- June 27, 2023
At first glance 7/3*, 5/3 looks obvious, putting the rear White checker on the bar.
However, Blue has only nine checkers in the attack zone and a stack of four checkers on White’s 5-pt. Those
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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- June 20, 2023
This is not easy. Behind in the race 24/16 does not look like the right game plan although it is a reasonable choice. The problem is that Blue’s next roll will have to be spent tidying up
- June 13, 2023
This is a basic reference position that everybody should know. Massive redouble, trivial take.
Not redoubling here is nearly a double blunder while dropping would be a sextuple blunder!
- June 5, 2023
This problem comes from a training session with one of my students. He had this position in a match and wanted my opinion on it. Even with the Quiz Factor I couldn’t see beyond 6/3, 4/3
- May 30, 2023
White’s structure and overall position is far too threatening to make a passive move here such as 13/11, 8/4 or 8/4, 6/4. Blue needs to make a tempo play here and therefore the four must
- May 16, 2023
In the days before computers the most common move made in this position would have been 8/3, 6/3.
Nowadays the recognition of how important tempo is would lead many to play 13/5*.
- May 9, 2023
There is a well-known rule of thumb for this type of position, which is basically a pay me now, pay me later problem.
If there is no life after death if you are hit when paying now, it is virtually
- May 2, 2023
This problem ties in with one of the themes in Mochy’s new book “Backgammon Masterclass”. You need to keep as many viable game plans as possible for as long as possible until the game