- November 15, 2022
There are multiple choices but following the basic rules of playing backgammon openings leads one to the correct answer quite quickly.
It is far too early to make an anchor on the 23-pt
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.
A New Puzzle Every Week
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.
Bray’s Learning Curve in-depth analysis is one of the great benefits of a USBGF membership.
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- November 1, 2022
Most players will look at this position and quickly play 23/12 as happened over the board. However, one needs to look deeper. This is actually a prime versus prime position. While 23/12
- October 25, 2022
This position is more difficult than it looks. The “obvious” move is 8/3* and that was played over the board, but it is nearly a blunder. Why?
Several reasons:
- Next turn Red will only
- October 11, 2022
Red leads in the race and has the better home board but White has an advanced anchor. It should be clear that Red must do something to activate the rear checkers. Red will have the advantage
- October 4, 2022
As ever in the early game, Red has many choices and can play actively or passively. Perhaps 24/22, 13/8 is the logical choice? It splits the back checkers and develops one of the checkers
- September 27, 2022
At Double Match Point 14/8, 10/6 would be the correct play because it wins the highest percentage of games but the thing that is often forgotten in positions like this is the gammon win
- September 20, 2022
Prime against prime games are the most difficult in backgammon. If you haven’t studied this type of position, it is virtually impossible to get close to the correct answer.
Here Red
- September 13, 2022
This is a well known type of ending which everybody should learn. For money this is double and pass but the match score is crucial to the decision-making process here.
With Red owning