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Cash game. Center cube. White on move.
Position (A): White to play 2-1.
Position (B): White to play 6-5.
We’ve talked a little in previous posts about proto-backgames, those transitional positions that lie between ‘normal’ backgammon and true backgames. Here are our first couple of examples of proto-backgame positions, so let’s pause for a bit and discuss just what each side is trying to do.
Cash game. White owns the cube.
Part (A): White on move. White to play 2-2.
Part (B): Black on move. Black to play 4-2.
Back games are among the most interesting, and the most difficult, of backgammon game types. In a true back game, one player makes two or three points in his opponent’s home board, then hopes to hit a shot and contain a checker as his opponent bears off. If he’s succeeded in maintaining his timing (that is, he can still build a containing prime on his side of the board), and can hit an enemy checker soon enough (before his opponent can bear off too many men), then he may have good winning chances. If not, he may be reduced to a desperate struggle to avoid a gammon.
That’s the theory, anyway. In reality, back games can take a lot of different forms, each with its own unique set of problems.
Cash game. Center cube. Black on move.
Part (A): Black to play 6-2.
Part (B): Black to play 5-4.
In both positions, White’s game suffers from a serious flaw: the big stack of checkers on the 20-point. Stacks are always bad, but in the late middle game they become even worse because so many checkers are tied up in one section of the board. As a rule, repairing the problem by moving the checkers off the stack becomes a very high priority, often outweighing all other considerations.
Cash game. Center cube. White on move.
Part (a): Should White double? Should Black take if doubled?
Part (b): Should White double? Should Black take if doubled?
Part (c): Should White double? Should Black take if doubled?
One note before we begin. When I said ‘Cash game’, I meant ‘Cash game with the Jacoby Rule in effect.’ The Jacoby Rule simply states that you can’t win a gammon unless the cube has been turned. Every cash game I’ve ever played has had this rule in effect, (except for a few weird chouettes I played long ago in Istanbul), so I didn’t mention it explicitly, but I should have. For future problems, always assume ‘cash game’ also means ‘Jacoby Rule in effect’.
Backgame Review
A backgame is a position where one side (the side playing a backgame) has established two or more points in his opponent’s inner board, while his opponent (who is said to be defending against the backgame) has a prime in front of the points. In our diagrams, Black is playing a backgame, and White is defending.
Both conditions need to be met for a position to be a backgame. If one side has a bunch of men in his opponent’s inner board, but his opponent hasn’t built at least a four-point prime, the position isn’t a backgame, since the player with the checkers back can (and almost certainly should) try to slither some checkers into the outer board. We call these and many other related positions proto-backgames. They might turn into backgames, but then again they might not.
Backgames are labeled by the points that the backgame player holds. The three positions given above are examples of a 1-3 backgame, because Black holds the 1 and 3-points in Black’s board. The 1-2, 1-3, and 2-3 are sometimes called the deep backgames, because the backgame player has points deep in his opponent’s board. Backgames like the 3-5 or 2-4 are sometimes called high backgames, for the obvious reasons.
Backgames depend upon timing. A backgame player is said to have timing when he’s able to move his remaining checkers and wait for a shot without destroying his home board. A backgame position that’s likely to be good when a shot comes is said to be well-timed; otherwise it’s poorly timed. Unlike normal positions, in backgames you want to be well behind in the race, and the further behind you are, the better.
Ranking Backgames
Not all backgames are created equal. To win a backgame you need to be able to do three things:
(1) Get a shot.
(2) Hit the shot.
(3) Win after hitting the shot.
Condition (2) is obviously a matter of luck. Your backgame might yield a triple shot, but if you miss it, that’s just bad luck. Conditions (1) and (3), however, are inversely correlated. The more likely a backgame is to get a shot, the harder it is to time, and therefore the less likely it is to win after hitting. The best backgame for getting shots is the 1-2 backgame, which can often generate a whole series of shots as the opponent tries to clear his points. However, the 1-2 requires immense amounts of timing, which is almost impossible to obtain in practice.
In my experience, the best backgame is the 2-4, which combines ease of timing with the ability to generate a lot of shots early. Close behind is the 2-3. After those come the group of high backgames: the 2-5, 3-4, 3-5, and 4-5. These are relatively hard to prime and generate shots early. They don’t get as many shots as the deep backgames, but they don’t lose as many gammons either. The true deep backgames, the 1-3 and the 1-2, are very hard to time and lose lots of gammons and backgammons, but do generate lots of shots. Bringing up the rear are the 1-4 and the 1-5, which are little more than glorified ace-point games.
Note, by the way, that ranking backgames has only a little practical significance. Unless you roll a particularly opportune set of double-aces or some other small number, you mostly can’t upgrade your weak backgame to a stronger one. But knowing the rankings might help us avoid some bad backgames in the first place.
Doubling in Backgames
Once a backgame has been established and a containing prime has been built, we reach positions like 25a through 25c. Here and for awhile, the checker play for both sides is fairly simple.
White will bring his spares down on top of his prime, trying not to get hit in the process. If he throws a good number, he will make his 2-point. If he doesn’t make the 2-point naturally, he will need to decide if he wants to slot the 2-point, and pick a good time to do it. Eventually he will move all his spares into the home board and start to dismantle his prime from the back.
Black, meanwhile, will slot the front and back of his prime and try to build a strong position as soon as possible. If White leaves a shot somehow, Black in general will try to hit it and contain it. Rolls like 4-4 and 5-5 will crush Black’s timing. If he rolls 6-6, he will often have to abandon the 22-point anchor and play a well-timed ace-point game rather than a poorly timed backgame.
During this phase of the game, the doubling window is very narrow. “Doubling window” is simply a term used to describe the set of positions where double and take are the correct options. The doubling window is said to “open” when White has a marginal double, at which point Black will have an easy take. The window “closes” when White has an optimal double and Black has a close take/pass decision. Positions within the window are double and take, while positions outside the window are either no double and take or double and pass. In blitz positions, or positions with a lot of blots strewn around the board, the doubling window is very wide. Even a few variations where you vacuum all the blots and gammon your opponent will justify an otherwise early double. But in long races or backgames, the window is typically very narrow. The vast majority of rolls result in little or no fundamental change to the position, so the side with the edge has no need to rush. You can creep up to a double slowly, and double when your opponent just barely has a take.
These three positions illustrate exactly this idea. In (a), Black trails by just 49 pips in the race. That’s not enough timing, and the position is double-pass. In (b), Black has 55 pips of timing. That’s a little better, and Black just barely has a take when White doubles.
Position (c) shows the other end of the scale. Now Black trails by 65 pips, and he has an easy take, while White just barely has enough of an edge to turn the cube.
These last two numbers, 55 pips and 65 pips, are what I call the characteristic numbers for this particular backgame structure. By remembering those, you can handle the cube properly in these and a lot of related 1-3 backgame positions. However, let’s be clear that these numbers apply only to backgames of a very particular structure. The following conditions have to be satisfied:
(1) Black has a 1-3 backgame with no additional checkers behind White’s prime.
(2) White has a 5-prime from the 4-point to the 9-point.
(3) There is no significant contact in the outer boards.
(4) Black’s home board is structurally sound. (He doesn’t have a gap on his 5-point, he hasn’t made his ace-point, things like that.)
If we keep a 1-3 backgame but start changing some other features of the position, the characteristic numbers will change, sometimes dramatically. Here are a few examples.
> If we add a fifth checker back for Black, but on the edge of the prime (the 22-point), Black needs about 10 more pips of timing to take. So he’d need to trail in the pip count by about 65 pips for the position to be double and marginal take.
> If we add a fifth checker back, but not at the edge of the prime (say on the 24-point) then Black needs about 15 more pips of timing for a take.
> Breaking up Black’s home board a little, say by moving his checkers from the 5-point down to the 2-point and 3-point, has the effect of requiring 10-15 more pips of timing than in the basic position. The more easily he can fill in the 5-point with his remaining checkers, the less extra timing he needs.
In short, once you remember the 55 pip – 65 pip numbers for the edges of the doubling window in the basic structure of a 1-3 backgame, you can make some educated guesses for a lot of real positions and handle the cube much better than most.
Cash game. Center cube. White on roll.
Position (a): White to play 5-1.
Position (b): White to play 5-1.
In the opening, plays that hit blots or make key points tend to easily dominate all other maneuvering plays. Interesting choices, however, arise when both plays are available. Do you hit, or do you make a point?
Five simple rules guide most of these plays.
(1) The stronger your inner board, the more you want to hit and the less you need to make an additional point.
(2) The better the point you can make, the more you want to make it.
(3) If you can make a point while unstacking, your desire to hit goes down.
(4) If you have to break a good anchor to hit, your desire to hit goes down.
(5) If you have a vulnerable, exposed blot, your desire to hit goes up.
These two positions illustrate the relative importance of rules (4) and (5). Note that in both parts of this problem, points (1) through (3) all suggest making the 5-point as the better play. White has a weak inner board, the 5-point is the best point available, and he can make the 5-point while also unstacking the 6-point.
In part (a), the decisive criterion is that White now has a great anchor on Black’s 4-point, and to hit, he’d have to break that anchor. So making the 5-point is clear, and in fact every hitting play is just a blunder.
In part (b), however, the picture changes. Now White has no anchor, so hitting doesn’t cost him an asset. In addition, making the 5-point now leaves the checker on the 21-point exposed to nine pointing numbers (11, 22, 44, 54, 52, and 42) plus some annoying double-hits (23, 43, 53). In addition, Black gets great diversification because his escaping numbers (all sixes) don’t duplicate his other good numbers. Hitting becomes essential for White both to gain ground in the race and to protect his otherwise vulnerable blots. In fact, making the 5-point now becomes a blunder!
After hitting in part (b), how should White play the ace? The right play is 16/15, because it duplicates Black’s threes: Black now needs threes to hit in the outfield and threes to anchor.
Cash game. Center cube. White on roll.
Part (a): Should White double? If White doubles, should Black take, drop, or beaver?
Part (b): Should White double? If White doubles, should Black take, drop, or beaver?
When contemplating a middle game double, don’t make the mistake of looking only at your position. Remember to look just as carefully at the weaknesses in your opponent’s position. It may be his weakness, rather than your strength, that gives you a good double.
Part (a) is a perfect case in point. White has escaped his back checkers and built a little structure, while Black has grabbed your 5-point. In most positions of this general type, White’s advantages wouldn’t even add up to an initial double. But now look at Black’s position:
> His back men are split and vulnerable to potential blitzing rolls like 66, 55, and 44, both now and on subsequent rolls. If his two back checkers were anchored on the 23-point or the 22-point, the position wouldn’t be a double.
> His front position is still chaotic and will be for a couple of turns. If he had a small 4-prime or even a good board with, say, the 4-point and 5-point made, he’d have a threat to contain any checker hit on the next couple of turns, and White wouldn’t have a double.
But with both these weaknesses, Black’s game is toothless enough so that White has a very solid double. Black still has a clear take of course.
In Part (b), White is off to a decent start. He’s got a good defensive anchor, while on the offensive side he has – well – something. He’s got some great points slotted, and next turn he might actually cover one or two of them.
The key to the position is not White’s game but Black’s. While White has something, Black has a bit less than nothing. No points, just blots. Something versus nothing is a good prescription for an early double, especially if the defender doesn’t have an anchor. Without an anchor, there will always be variations where things go terribly wrong and White’s messy position turns into a powerful blitz. Did you stop to guess what White’s cubeless gammon chances were in Part (b)? If you did, did you realize they’re over 25%? Numbers like that almost always guarantee not just an initial double, but a strong and mandatory initial double. White’s checkers aren’t just passive slots. They’re also potential attackers, which can be activated by a single good sequence. Couple that with a rock-solid defensive anchor, and White has a great double.
Clear take, of course. There are plenty of variations where things don’t go so well and Black recovers quickly.
Cash game. Center cube. White on roll.
Position 1: White to play 5-2.
Position 2: White to play 4-2.
In backgammon, most hits are done for one of two reasons: to gain ground in the race, or to attack a key point. A rarer (but still important) use of the hit is a defensive idea called the tempo play. Here the plan is to prevent your opponent from using his whole roll to do something good. By hitting (usually in your home board), you force him to spend half his roll coming in from the bar, so he’s not in position to do something devastating elsewhere on the board.
Cash game. White owns the cube. White on roll.
White to play 5-3.
A lot of backgammon positions are pretty simple: the right play is either forced or completely obvious. Many others involve a clear decision between two very different alternatives. These problems may be hard to solve, but at least the choices are clear.
Some positions, however, involve a lot of possible plays, all of which are somewhat reasonable. These positions can be very tricky, and one of the dangers is overlooking the best play altogether while sorting through the wealth of possibilities. Be alert, and try to enumerate all the plays before starting to rank them.
Cash game. Black owns the cube. White on roll.
White to play 5-1.
One of the most dangerous positions in backgammon is that of the out-timed and rapidly deteriorating position. This problem is a good example. These overstretched positions usually arise when one side (here White) has built a great front position quickly, but at the cost of leaving one or more stragglers disconnected from the main force.
Cash game, White owns the cube. White on roll.
(a) Should White double?
(b) If doubled, should Black take, drop, or beaver?
Among the many relatively unexplored position types in backgammon is one I call the “Late Game Blitz”. The general idea is pretty simple. One side has a blitz in progress. The other side, unlike the case in the basic opening blitz, has some sort of structure in place, which might range from a few scattered points to an imposing five-prime. The blitzer has some number of checkers to extricate from behind this structure before he can claim the game.
These Late Game Blitz positions are relatively common and often incredibly difficult. Many points are swung with errors in this type of game, and the errors are often very large. If you’re looking to work hard to improve your play and results, these are good positions to focus on. The ability to handle these positions well will make a big difference in your play.
Cash game, White owns the cube. White on roll.
White to play 2-1.
Slotting to make a key point and splitting your back checkers are two tactical ideas that dominate early-game play when more obvious choices like hitting blots and making points aren’t available. The 1970s and 1980s were the heyday of slotting. The preferred method of winning a game was to build an imposing prime (often by slotting points, then covering) and follow it with a crushing double. The older method, taking the points you were given and looking for a chance to escape your back checkers, was seen as antiquated and wimpy, a game plan only suited for geezers playing in the park.
Cash game, center cube. White on roll.
White to play 3-1.
Here’s the same position from the last blog post, but this time White has a different roll to play: 3-1.
Here the choice is a little different from before. The only available hit, Bar/24 6/3*, is now a horrible blunder. It has all the disadvantages of the hits in the last post, but in addition it leaves White stuck on the 24-point, just when White needs to be taking some small risks to get an advanced anchor in Black’s board.
Instead, White needs to enter with the three, Bar/22, which gives him both an escaping number (6) and a threat to make an anchor, and then consider whether 24/23 or 22/21 is his best ace. The former is a little safer since White avoids moving to the point Black most wants to make next (Black’s 4-point). The latter play moves directly to that point, hoping to later grab the best anchor available.
Either play might be right depending on circumstances. Here the circumstances favor moving to the 21-point. To see why, we’ll use a frequently handy trick in these sorts of positions. Find Black’s best non-double that attacks or advances his prime, and see how that number plays on the other side of the board. The right play will often duplicate this number.
After Bar/22/21, Black’s best non-double for advancing his prime is clearly 4-2, which plays 8/4* 6/4. But on the other side of the board, 4-2 is also a great shot, making the 20-point anchor. Eureka — duplication!
Now consider Bar/22 24/23. Black’s best non-double for moving his prime is 5-3, which he would play 8/3* 5/3. But on the other side of the board, 5-3 is pretty useless. Hence the 24/23 play creates a new great number for Black, which isn’t the right idea. So White should just play the simple Bar/22/21.
Cash game, center cube. White on roll. White to play 5-3.
Many backgammon problems boil down to a simple question: hit, or don’t hit. In essence, backgammon is a pretty simple game. In general, you want to make points, and in general, you want to hit.
Cash game, center cube. White on roll.
(a) Should White double?
(b) If doubled, should Black take, drop, or beaver?
Early game doubles cover a wide variety of positions, but in general they can be spotted by analyzing three key aspects of the game: race, position, and threats. Many years ago, Joe Sylvester (a very great player in the 80s and 90s, now somewhat inactive) coined a simple rule: if you’re ahead in two out of three of these aspects, you have a double. Your opponent may or may not have a take. Let’s evaluate these three features of Problem 12 and see what they tell us.
Cash game, center cube. Black to play 6-1.
This position is somewhat unusual. We have a roughly balanced middle game in which both sides have moderately strong home boards. Black has only one man back, and as a result White trails in the pip count by 15 pips (136 to 121).
White’s roll, 6-1, is awkward since he has no great six. Moving off the midpoint leaves a shot. Moving off the 24-point creates two blots and breaks his defensive anchor. The only sensible play that involves moving from the 7-point or 8-point is the loose hit, 8/1*, which doesn’t accomplish much. Nonetheless, White does have to pick one choice from this unappetizing situation.
Cash game, center cube, White on roll.
Part (a): White to play 4-3.
Part (b): White to play 5-1.
Both sides have anchors on the opposing 3-points, and both sides have established a few points in front of the enemy anchor. I like to call these ‘Block versus Block’ positions, to distinguish them from the better-known ‘Prime versus Prime’ positions.
