- March 14, 2023
After the forced bar/23* Red has the choice of (a) 23/20; (b) 13/10 (c) 8/5.
The worst place for a single checker in your opponent’s home board is on the 23-pt because its sixes are blocked.
Bray's Learning Curve
Each week, author Chris Bray lends his sharp insight and easy-to-understand analysis to help you improve your game.
Chris is the author of multiple backgammon books, including Backgammon for Dummies, and is the backgammon columnist for The Times of London.
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Every Monday Chris posts an interesting backgammon position on our Facebook page. We encourage you to join in the lively discussion and return here to our website on Tuesdays to read his extended analysis.
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- March 7, 2023
This position came up in a chouette at the London Open this last weekend and caused a heated debate with arguments put forward for all the plays listed in the rollout. In the end the captain
- February 28, 2023
Despite the attraction of triplicating threes with 21/15, 5/4 that play should be ignored. As Paul Magriel would say, that is duplication for duplication’s sake.
Red should also
- February 21, 2023
It is interesting that my doubling problems always get a much poorer response than my checker play problems. Is doubling really that much more difficult?
The correct way to approach
- February 14, 2023
This one is ever so easy to get wrong over the board. Making the 4-pt seems obvious but when your opponent holds your 3-pt the best blocking point for you to own is your 9-pt.
9/4, 8/4 makes
- February 7, 2023
This position graphically demonstrates the need to make your checkers work efficiently.
Over the board the safe 8/6, 8/4 was played but this made no attempt to solve the problem
- January 31, 2023
Over the board 9/7(2), 8/4 was played. This gives Red a solid five-point prime and looks nice but what is the follow-up? It is difficult to see how Red will improve his position without
- January 24, 2023
This position is taken from the 2022 UBC (Ultimate Backgammon Championship) final between Mochy and Sander Lylloff. Amazingly the move chosen by Sander was 24/21, 15/13 which is