Backgammon Problems: Middle Game

Two Middle Game Doubles

Nov 1, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game

Cash game. Center cube. White on move.

(a) Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?

(b) Should White double? If he doubles, should Black take or drop?

These two positions show a couple of very typical middle game doubles. In each case we’re six to eight moves into the game, one side has finally grabbed a noticeable advantage, and now they’re thinking about turning the cube. Double? Take? What’s right?

Let’s start with the doubling question. The best general guide to early/middle game doubles of this sort came years ago from Joe Sylvester. (Joe was one of the titans of backgammon in the 1980s and 1990s, and he won the first World Cup in 1988. Today he’s somewhat inactive.) Joe recommended looking at three features of the position: the race, the structure, and threats. His rule was the following: if you have an edge in at least two of these three, then you have a double.

With this idea in mind, how’s White doing in Position (a)?

> White leads in the race, 133 to 149, a 16-pip lead.

> White has a better structure, with a 4-point block, his 4, 5, and 6-points already made, and good distribution. Black lacks his 4-point and 5-point and has a big stack on his 6-point.

> White has plenty of immediate threats. Twos hit the blot in Black’s board, 6-1, 6-3, and 3-1 make a 5-point prime, and 6-4 points on the 2-point. White’s edge is threatening to get much bigger next turn.

With an edge in every department, Sylvester’s rule suggests White should have a strong double in Position (a), and in fact he does.

Now let’s look at Position (b).

> White leads in the race, 134 to 162, a 28-pip lead.

> White has a better structure, with four points made in front of Black’s anchor. In addition, Black has three men back on his 23-point, which is weak. Black also has no inner board yet, which is also weak. Here the issue is not so much that White is strong, but that Black’s pretty weak.

> White has no particular threats. True, 6-1 makes his 5-point, and a few numbers will run his back checker into the outfield. But that’s more the sort of background threat noise that’s present in every position.

Here, we can say that White has an edge in two out of the three criteria. Again, he has a solid double.

Now, what about the take/drop question? Here I’ve got my own rule. I ask myself three quick questions. If the answer to the first and third questions is ‘yes’, and the answer to the second question is ‘no’ I’m pretty sure I’ve got a take. If not, then I’ll look at the position more closely. My questions are:

> Do I have an anchor?

> Does my opponent have a 5-prime?

> Is there still contact on both sides of the board?

Take a look at Problem 1 and Problem 2. In both cases Black has an anchor, in both cases White hasn’t yet built a 5-prime, and in both cases we still have contact on the other side. With all these conditions in place, it’s hard (although not impossible) for Black to be a 3-to-1 underdog in the game. In both positions, Black’s best guess should be that he probably has a take. And in fact, rollouts show that’s the correct action.

Where to Leave Blots

Jul 14, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game

Both positions: Cash game. Center cube. White on move.

(a) White to play 5-4.

(b) White to play 6-2.

In Problem 140A, White has no way to safety the blot on his 16-point. In fact, he can’t avoid creating a second blot as well. He has a few reasonable plays: 13/4, 16/11 13/9, 16/11 6/2, 13/8 13/9, and 6/1* 13/9. None of these plays look terribly strong. How should he decide among them?

Improving Your Technique

Jun 1, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game, Uncategorized

Cash game. Center cube. White on move.

White to play 2-2.

The advent of the bots in the late 1990s enabled players to solve a myriad of small technical plays that recurred frequently but couldn’t really be tackled with hand rollouts or pure reasoning. Hand rollouts were so slow that they really had to be reserved for positions where the solution was unknown but the difference between plays was likely to be large and important. Players ignored what appeared to be small technical stuff, on the theory that solving these problems, even if possible, was most likely a huge waste of energy.

Creating Mobility

May 15, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game, Uncategorized

Cash game. Center cube. White on move.

White to play 6-4.

This is a comparatively easy problem if you can properly balance the key features of the position. Let’s step back for a second and look at just what is happening, before we try to evaluate the different choices.

The race: White will trail in the race by 16 pips after he plays his 6-4. Considering that he has five men back to Black’s two, he’s not as far behind as one might think at first glance. Since he’s trailing in the race, however, he wants to maintain a good anchor (to generate some shots) and a good blockade (to contain blots he may hit).

Blockades: White has four good points in front of Black’s anchor. That’s a solid plus for him, if he can maintain it. Black has a motley collection of scattered points, which indicates that he probably won’t be able to build a good block anytime soon, and that he’ll likely have to start leaving shots in the near future.

Weaknesses: For White, what might seem a strength is actually a long-term weakness. He has two great anchors, on the 20-point and the 18-point, but that’s one great anchor too many. The 20-point/18-point combination doesn’t work well together; they tie up 76 pips at a time when maneuvering freely is still key.

Black’s weakness is glaringly obvious; it’s the 2-point, too deep in his board to be useful at this stage. Black might have had good reason to make it in the past, but now he’d be better off if those checkers were back on the 4-point or the 9-point.

Now let’s put all this together and see just what we can do with the 6-4.

8/2 6/2. A bad choice. White burns two of his remaining builders to make a useless point far behind Black’s anchor. Now all his remaining points are stripped and his only convenient rolls next turn are those that can be made entirely with the blot on the 24-point. Take a look at how numbers like 4-1, 3-2, 6-1, 5-2, 4-3, 5-1, and 6-4 play next turn. In complex middle games with action on both sides of the board you need checkers that can move easily, and sometimes you have to take risks to preserve those checkers.

24/18 6/2 and 24/20 8/2. Not as committal as making the 2-point, but half-hearted versions of the same idea. You only have 15 checkers, and you want everyone in play at this stage of the game.

20/10. To those who worship the 5-point, this looks like a shocking idea. White breaks the defensive 5-point before he must. But it’s really a fine move, which solves all White’s problems at once. White doesn’t need both anchors, so he gives one up voluntarily.

Take a look at the position after 20/10 and notice how White has solved most of his problems. He now has five spare checkers, ensuring that he won’t have to concede any valuable points in the near future. He’s got more combinations to make his 5-point or 7-point, as well as more ways to attack if Black should split his back checkers for some reason. Finally, he’s resolved the issue of too many anchors in a neat and efficient fashion.

If you missed this problem, it’s probably because you’re too focused on static features of the position, and not enough on the flow of the game. Try to anticipate how the game is likely to develop over the next couple of rolls, and avoid positions where you have a real shortage of checkers that can move.

Mobility

Apr 1, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game

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.

The Tempo Hit

Feb 1, 2022 | Backgammon Problems: Middle Game, Uncategorized

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.