Black – Pips 161
Black to Play 3-1
(b) Black to play 3-2.
Make a point or hit?
Black – Pips 161
Black to Play 3-1
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Bill Robertie
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Black – Pips 161
Black to Play 3-1
Holding Game Doubles, Part 2
In some earlier posts we talked about doubling in high anchor games, and looked at some typical positions where White held an anchor on the 5-point and Black was trying to cash in on his racing advantage and bring his last checkers home to victory. All of those positions turned out to be takes.
From those examples, you might conclude that almost any 5-point game was a take, regardless of the race. But it’s not quite that simple. In this article we’ll look at some examples where small modifications to the position can produce big changes in the evaluation.
A Short History of Modern Backgammon
If you’re new to backgammon, you might wonder how the game took on the form it has, with many books and websites available and tournaments all over the world. In this post I’ll give you a short history of the growth and development of backgammon since 1920, when the game began to take on its modern form. Enjoy!
Position or Race?
In this position, with Black on roll, who is a favorite?
Black – Pips 140
Black on roll. Who’s a favorite?
Holding Game Doubles
Last article, we talked about some of the tricky play problems that arise in high anchor positions. This time, we’ll start to look at doubling strategy in these common situations. (Remember, a high anchor game is one where one player has escaped all his back checkers, while his opponent has managed to secure an anchor on the 4-point or 5-point.)
High Anchor Holding Games
Next to races, the most common type of position in backgammon is what we call the holding game. Holding games occur when one side escapes his back checkers to the safety of the midpoint or beyond, but the other side (the “defender”) does not. Instead, the defender manages to anchor his two back checkers somewhere in his opponent’s home board.
