Cash game. White owns the cube. White on move.
White to play 2-2.
First, let’s try to orient ourselves. White looked like he might get stuck in some sort of miserable ace-point game, but has just thrown a fantastic shot, 2-2, which is so good it actually lets him pursue a few different options. In backgammon, it’s good technique to try to list all the reasonable plays before you start analyzing the merits of any one play. With that goal in mind, let’s see what we can find for candidate plays.
* Bar/23 11/9*/7*/5. White turns the tables on his opponent with this play, which ignores defense and goes straight for the attack. By closing his 5-point while putting two Black checkers on the bar, White gives himself the chance to win by going forward. If he can hit one or two more blots and escape a checker or two from behind Black’s prime, his plan might succeed. On the negative side, he hasn’t done anything yet about his rear checkers.
* Bar/23 24/22*(2) 11/9*. This play combines a little offense with a lot of defense. White makes the 22-point, shoring up his defenses and giving himself a good chance to make a second back point. Meanwhile, he’s still put two Black checkers in the air, so he could develop some offensive chances if Black doesn’t roll a five.
* Bar/23 24/22*(2) 23/21. Maximum defense, no offense. White hits only one checker, but gives himself the best chance to establish two good back game points, in this case the 21-point and 22-point.
* Bar/23 24/22* 11/9*/7*. White hits three checkers while spreading out his back men. Plenty of offense, but the lack of the 5-point could be dangerous. If Black rolls a five, a lot of men could be headed to the rear.
* Bar/23 24/22* 11/9*(2). Hits a couple of checkers while leaving no extraneous blots. Aggression plus safety, although the lack of the 5-point is once again a factor.
That’s quite a lot of choices. How can we narrow the field a bit?
One way of narrowing the field is to remember a very reliable principle. In general, you want to go forward. Plays that contain a significant chance of going forward tend to dominate more defensive plays unless the position is truly critical and the offensive chances are unrealistic.
That argument favors the initial play, Bar/23 combined with 11/9*/7*/5. Are the offensive chances after this play realistic? Certainly. Black has two men in the air, so he’s not even a favorite to enter both men from the bar. In addition, he has two more blots vulnerable to aces and deuces. It’s not at all a stretch to imagine that Black could shortly have four men behind three or four White points. For this plan to work, White will need to escape a checker or two in the near future, but Black only has a four-prime, so that’s not an impossibility.
The other plays aren’t bad, but in all of them White has only a one-point board, so Black is under much less pressure. In proto-backgame positions, always keep your eyes open for a breakout play, something that has the potential to alter the direction of the game completely. It’s often the best choice.
