Cash game, center cube.
Should White double? Should Black take if doubled?
This position is another example of our old friend, the “Action Double”. We’ve seen one of these before, in the blog post of September 1, 2023. Here’s a brief description of the conditions that create a good action double.
(1) We’re out of the opening and into the middle game. Unlike opening blitz positions, both sides now have some structure.
(2) The side on roll (White in this case) is shooting at several blots. Hitting a blot might result in a big advantage, if the defender (Black) then rolls poorly.
(3) The defender usually doesn’t have an anchor.
(4) The race is probably close, and the structures are often nearly equivalent.
(5) The cube is in the center.
When all these factors come together, the position is usually a clear double and a clear take. That’s the case here. Not doubling costs White about 0.2 points of equity. Not taking costs Black even more: about 0.3 points of equity. Making a mistake either way is a major blunder, so you need to be alert to these positions when they arise, since they can arise suddenly.
All the factors matter. If White were far ahead in the race, or if his structure were much stronger than Black’s, then the result would almost certainly be double/pass. If Black has an anchor, the blitz threat is much less, so White usually won’t have a double. (But not always: see Problem 60). If Black had fewer blots, then White wouldn’t be doubling.
Many players overlook these doubles because they compare the position to an opening blitz, where the defender has no structure at all, and conclude that Black’s various points must somehow rule out a double. What they’re missing is that while Black has a better position than in an opening blitz, so does White. In a typical blitz, White has a 3-point board with a couple of builders. Here he has a 3.5-point board, with four builders in place. That means he’s much closer to an actual closeout than in a normal blitz. In fact, White’s gammon chances here are over 30%! That’s an impressive number, so he must double to activate the gammons. Black wins plenty of games, however, so he still has an easy take.
