Position 1In the first position, my initial thought was that I do not want to stack a third checker on the 8pt. That would make it nearly impossible to ever make the 3pt. My second notion was to slot, but I rejected that almost as quickly. Since I don’t want to give up the 7pt to cover, there are not enough covers for the slot. Furthermore, the cost of having a slot hit is too high. There are still reasonable alternatives. Magriel was one of the first to write about the inefficiency of holding points 6 pips apart, and that applies here. Owning the 2pt means that the 8pt probably should be abandoned. Over the board, I would make the play that Keene made, J (Jump) = 8/6 8/5. In light of the quiz factor that attends these posts, I wonder whether leaving a single checker on the 8pt might not be better. O (Outer) = 13/10 8/6 would duplicate the 5 that Yellow needs for escape and that which might hit on the 1pt. That leaves o (outer) = 13/11 8/5 as the alternative. Neither one seems as good as J.
Position 2One turn later, the timing is much more critical. Here is looks relatively standard to slot the point that is essential to own in this battle of primes. I would play $ (Slot) = 13/8 5/3. Jeremy Bagai wrote in Classic Backgammon Revisited that slotting is more often the result of internal pressure rather than external, and I think this is a case in point. Perhaps hitting on the 1pt is an alternative, but it seems very wrong to me. Black gets the better of the exchange whenever he enters, no matter whether that be on the 1pt or 3pt. And when he dances, Black won’t have to move on his side of the board. Furthermore, after a dance, Yellow would be committed to covering the 1pt in most circumstances. That would leave a horrible gap on the 3pt that might never get filled. Mike | ||||||||||||||||||
is XG Roller+
is 11pt Keene 
