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A practical way to become a winner at backgammon is to glean instruction from the best players. Some of the backgammon world’s highest awards have written books to assist players both novice and advanced.
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Cash game, White owns the cube.
White to play 3-2
Problem 176 is an example of a type of position that arises fairly frequently, especially at the tail end of a mutual holding game. Black probably held White’s 5-point for a while, then left either to hit a shot or to create a spare on the midpoint. White scores a lucky hit, and now Black is stuck on the bar against a 5-point board.
When bearing off against contact, you often have a choice between playing aggressively to win more gammons, and playing safely to win the most games. Some of these plays are tricky. Here’s a good example.
Black on roll, money game, White owns the cube.
(a) Tournament match, double match point.
(b) Money game, center cube.
(c) Money game, Black owns the cube.
Back at World Cup VI, in 1998, Kent Goulding and I introduced a ‘Quizgammon’ contest, consisting of a set of 30 problems taken from all phases of the game. Everyone who was interested paid an entry fee of $20 and sat down for an hour with their problems and answer sheet. After everyone handed in their solutions, Kent and I went over the answers and announced the winners. The event was an instant success. Players really liked the idea of matching wits, with the luck of the dice finally and thoroughly removed.
Consider the following problem, which arose in a recent chouette:
