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Cash game, center cube.
Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?
This position shows a pretty interesting middle game position. Both sides have an anchor, and some points scattered around. White, however, is on roll and shooting at a bunch of blots. He has a total of 27 hits: all sixes, all fives, 4-3, 4-1. 3-2, and 3-3. That’s a lot of hits, so he’s naturally thinking about doubling, and Black is probably worrying whether or not he’ll have a take if White ships the cube.
Cash game, center cube.
Cash game, center cube.
Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?
We’re in the early stages of the game and White is contemplating a double. Some time ago Joe Sylvester developed a rule for evaluating early doubles. Sylvester advocated looking at three aspects of the position:
(1) Positional advantage (board strength, primes)
(2) The race
(3) Threats
A solid lead in two out of three areas usually translates into a good initial double. A lead in all three guarantees a good double and brings the take into question. Let’s look at all three features of the position in light of Sylvester’s Law and see what we get.
(1) Positional advantage. No one really has a priming structure yet. White has one more home board point and one more outfield point, but Black has his 5-point. Slight edge to White.
(2) Race. Huge edge for White, who leads in the pip count, 118 to 152.
(3) Threats. Another big edge for White, who has five crushing doubles (1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, and 6-6) plus another six rolls that make the 4-point (6-4, 6-2, 4-2). In addition, White can at least hit loose with most of his other numbers.
A big edge in two out of three categories certainly implies White can double. At the same time, Black has a pretty easy take. White only has three really crushing numbers (2-2, 4-4, and 6-6). Everything else gives Black a chance to anchor on his next turn, with a long game in progress. And of course, Black does have his 5-point, which is a big asset in his favor.
Cash game, center cube.
White to play 6-3.
This position shows one of the most commonly misplayed early game situations. White opened with a 43 and made the building play, 13/9 13/10. It’s the most aggressive choice for an opening 43, designed to make a prime quickly and create a complicated position. Black responded with a 44, making his 9-point and electing to make an advanced anchor rather than hit. (Hitting is also very reasonable.) Now White has a 6-3 to play.
Cash game, center cube.
White to play 5-2.
Here we have a position from the tail end of a mutual holding game. These positions typically arise as follows:
> Both sides make an advanced anchor in the opening.
> Both sides bring down some builders from the midpoint and make a few blockading points.
Neither side ever rolls a big double that would allow it to escape the back men safely.
>Both sides slowly dismantle their blocking points and build inner board points behind the opponent’s anchor.
> Crunch time! Both sides start to face tricky decisions about when to leave the anchor.
