Is it so much more important to prevent anchoring than to get a third checker back?
Yes! But if the question (or the rollout?) implies that Creamy can only do one or the other with this 4-2 play, that's not true. Creamy will certainly try to close Brown out, but he can do that against two checkers back or against three checkers back. It's not at all clear to me that closing Brown out becomes more difficult if Creamy hits the third checker now. Seeing the rollout, I still like bar/23* 7/3*.
Close out 3 checkers -- you win about 94.3% cubeless.
Close out 2 checkers -- you win about 76.3% cubeless.
Fail to prevent an anchor -- well, below are two positions which Creamy has probably badly misplayed, because Creamy should usually be able to force Brown off the anchor long before the game gets to this:
| White | 69 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
                   | |||
| Blue | 84 | ||
| Position ID: bHc3AAAAAMABAA Match ID: MAEAAAAAAAAE | |||
| White | 66 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Blue | 99 | ||
| Position ID: 2O5uAAAAAOAAAA Match ID: MAEAAAAAAAAE | |||
A quick rollout says Creamy Blue wins about 52% cubeless in the first position against the deuce point anchor, but much better -- about 58% -- in the second position. Why? Because it's still not too late to try to force Brown White off the anchor.