Cash game. White owns the cube. White on move.

Should White double? If he does, should Black take, drop, or beaver?

In our last problem we looked at a back game where the back game player got a double shot, but still couldn’t double until he actually hit the shot.

While that’s a generally good rule for many normal back game positions, it’s not always the case. When playing a massive back game, stay alert for positions where your opponent’s game has deteriorated so much that you can double much earlier.

In this position, White has patiently held on to his 1-3-4 back game while Black has dumped a total of eight checkers on his 2-point. Given his structure and his open 5-point (which makes White’s back game even stronger) Black is likely to leave double and triple shots as he tries to clear each of the three remaining points. Although White is likely to run one checker off the 21-point this turn, that won’t help Black much. He still faces leaving a series of shots, and when he gets hit, most of his entering numbers will shake more blots loose.

Most surprising of all might be the fact that White is the side with the gammon chances here! He wins over 75% of the games from this position, with about a third of those being gammons.

White should double and in fact Black already has a pass. It’s a somewhat surprising result, but back games with three good anchors and a sloppy structure for the side coming home can be enormously strong.