If this was an unlimited game this would be a grossly premature double.
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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This problem looks at the thorny issue of when to advance the last rear checker.
This position is deceptive. Red seems to control the whole board and this looks to be a strong double that White might not be able to take.
Red needs to contain White’s rear checker. Clearly the three must be played 6/3*. The question is how to play the two?
Red has a lot of work to do yet to win from this position so we can quickly ignore the safest play of 16/13, 2/1. The question is which White blot should Red hit and how?
There is an old backgammon maxim, “A point cleared is a point not to be feared”.
This is a very difficult back game problem and to solve it you need to work out the correct game plan for Red.