Bray's Learning Curve

Monte Carlo 1985

Picture of Chris Bray
Chris Bray
Match Play. Red trails 6-10 to 21. How should Red play 51?
Backgammon board mid-game with red and white checkers; two dice are visible on the board edges.
eXtreme Gammon ID: XGID=-BaBBBC-----bBc----cBc-ba-:1:-1:1:51:6:10:0:21:10

Answer and Commentary

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Bray’s Learning Curve — A Great Member Benefit

Bray’s Learning Curve is a USBGF online series by author Chris Bray. Each week Chris lends his sharp insight and easy to understand analysis to help you improve your game.

Visit the USBGF Facebook page every Monday to challenge yourself with an interesting backgammon position and join in the lively discussion.  Return to usbgf.org on Tuesday to view the answer with commentary.

More Bray's Learning Curve

Backgammon board with white and red checkers on triangular points; two dice show 2 and 3 nearby.

Not so easy

Should Red give up one of his anchors? If so, how?

A move like 12/6, 8/3 is clearly wrong. Red should not cede the outer boards to White. Running one checker with 20/9, or 21/10 is wrong

Backgammon board mid-game with red and white checkers on the points, two dice near the bottom showing the roll, and numbers along the edges indicating positions.

Flawed Strategy

I am the first to admit that I got this wrong over the board. It seemed to be clear to step up with 24/22 and then play 10/7, safetying the blot on the 10-pt.

That move turns out to be a double