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Bill Robertie

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Playability

Jan 15, 2020 |

White – Pips 123 (+7)

Black – Pips 116 (-7)
Black to Play 3-2

This position comes from the late middle game. White is on the bar without an anchor, falling behind in the race and in some danger of being closed out. Meanwhile Black has a couple of checkers stuck behind a 4-prime. Black needs to escape but he needs to close his board as well, so he’s under constant pressure each turn to get something done.

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When to Break a 6-Prime

Jan 1, 2020 |

White – Pips 32 (-96)

Black – Pips 128 (+96)
Black to Play 4-5
In our blog post of November 15 we discussed the various stages of a containment game, and outlined some rules for guiding your play. Leading off the rules was an important one: Don’t break your 6-prime!

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Running off an Anchor

Dec 16, 2019 |

White – Pips 67 (-22)

Black – Pips 89 (+22)
Black to Play 5-3

One-way holding games are, for the most part, pretty easy to play. You hold onto your anchor, watch your opponent try to clear points, wait for a shot, and then hopefully hit it. Alternatively, you roll a 6-6 or 5-5 somewhere in this process and move into a race where you’re close to even or maybe a little ahead.

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Playing a Random 6 from the Bar

Dec 3, 2019 |

White – Pips 168 (=)

Black – Pips 168 (=)
Black to Play 6-2

This position shows a typically awkward moment in the early game. Black’s game is temporarily a little loose, and now he throws a 2-6 from the bar.

Sometimes a six from the bar will allow us to do something obvious and good, like hitting a blot or building a point. When we can’t do anything good, we’re usually faced with a choice among several unappetizing alternatives. That’s the case here. We have four legal sixes: 8/2, 13/7, 21/15, and 22/16. None look great, but we have to pick one. Let’s set up some guidelines and see if they can lead us to the least unappealing six.

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