Backgammon

Chris Bray
Saturday 12 December 1998 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

HERE IS a position taken from one of the very first issues of Bill Robertie's excellent Inside Backgammon magazine in 1991. Nack Ballard, a very strong American player, was black against Robertie's white. Black is on the bar and has a 61 to play.

In the match, Nack played bar/24, 11/5, and in the magazine analysis no comment was made. However, he has two other legal plays. Bar/24, 8/2 can be quickly discounted. But what about bar/24/18?

At first sight, this seems like madness, voluntarily giving Robertie a triple shot. Let's see why this play might be right. Firstly, white misses with nine rolls, giving black an excellent game and probably a game-winning double. Secondly, there is a lot of duplication of white's good numbers. His 1s and 3s he would like to use to split his back men, and some of his 4s can be used to make either his bar-point or his 4-point. Thirdly, 6s don't grow on trees and using this one to make a run for home is certainly reasonable.

Finally, and the key point of the move, it deflects white from any other activity - he must attend to this bothersome blot before he does anything else. This will lead to further isolation of his back men which are well contained by black, including his sentinel on his 11-point which can now stay in its very useful position. I first learnt this isolation technique in a lesson from Paul Magriel and it is something well worth remembering.

Are these reasons sufficient to compensate for the triple shot? Yes they are. Extensive roll-outs show that black's winning chances are enhanced by about three per cent by playing bar/24/18. Three per cent may not seem like a lot, but if you consistently find plays during a game that give you a three per cent edge you will radically improve your results.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in