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“Reading every word, slowly studying each diagram and following your analysis was invaluable to strengthening not only my checker play but my understanding of fundamental backgammon.”
Bill Robertie welcomes the opportunity to share his knowledge of backgammon with experienced players and beginners alike.
On his blog, Robertie publishes set and equipment reviews, creates quiz contests and provides free lessons. He would be remiss not to include his Robertie’s Rules! He also educates readers of the Gammon Press blog on the history of the game, offers backgammon instruction and more.
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You’re playing a 5-point match, and you lead 3-to-1. You need two points to win, your opponent needs four. The next game starts out favorably for you. What’s your proper cube strategy?
This scenario is among the most common in tournament backgammon, and among the most frequently mishandled. The leader’s doubling strategy can be succinctly summarized in these two rules:
A few weeks ago Malcolm Davis sadly passed away, in his late 80s. Malcolm was one of the true giants of the game, a top player for more than 40 years, a fixture at practically every major tournament, and a member of the Backgammon Hall of Fame. The capstone of his tournament career came in 1996, when he won the fifth World Cup, defeating Kit Woolsey in a best-of-five 13-point match final.
In many respects Malcolm was well ahead of his time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when pure play ruled the day, Malcolm was one of a few players who sought a more sensible, balanced approach to the game. His excellent tournament results were for a time dismissed as simply good luck. But when Jellyfish and Snowie arrived on the scene, players began to understand that Malcolm and some other “lucky” players had been on the right track all along.
I always enjoyed running into Malcolm at tournaments. He had a wide range of interests and a ton of good stories to share. (Playing him wasn’t that much fun since he beat me like a drum.) Here are a few stories from Malcolm’s life.
In this position we’re still in the early part of the game. Both sides have one checker back. White has a somewhat impure structure with the ace-point already made, but he does have an extra inner point, plus a lot of checkers that can join in an attack. Black has only two inner points, but a very nice structure, with plenty of builders poised to make priming points. The position might appear at first to be evenly balanced, save for the small matter that White is on roll.
White on roll, center cube.
(a) Cash game. Should White double? If White doubles, what should Black do?
(b) Match, score tied 1 to 1 to 5 points. Same question.
(c) Match, White leads 2 to 1 to 5 points. Same question.
(d) Match, White leads 3 to 1 to 5 points. Same question.
Tournament backgammon requires an extra set of skills beyond those required by money players. Often decisions have to be made which cannot arise in a money game. Here’s a good example.
Black on roll, center cube, score 0-0 in 7-point match.
