Hi!
It has been too long since I posted an update here...
One of the new additions to my backgammon server is something I have called "Borderline bonanza!" where you try to answer correctly as many borderline cube action positions as possible. How many can you do in a row?
This came from an earlier comment from Tore who mentioned that borderline cube positions are good as reference positions. So the above challenge works as training to detect/remember these positions.
In order to support this I had to fix the borderline cube action search query which didn't include positions where the error was lower than -0.010:
But now you can get positions from this range.
There is also a new section that lists the improvements that are added to the site:
RuneH suggested a cube action from the bar as a fun subject so today I added a new challenge "Bar brawl!" where you get positions where you should or should not cube from the bar:
A minor fix I added earlier was to show which cube action was actually played in cube positions:
You can now import xg positions into your bookmarks section:
This could be handy to organize your collection of position files.
If you're interested in checking out matches from players from one country you can now select a country and get a list of these:
You can drag dialogs around so they don't overlap with the main board:
This also shows the use of the hint button which you can use to get evaluation from gnu backgammon about a position. For instance if you wonder about "What if the position was a little different?" you can now modify a position and then click Hint to get an evaluation on this modified position.
You can also use this to set up a position with the board editing options:
for instance to set up a bearoff position and then getting it evaluated.
There are now some more board options you can change the look of the main board/checkers:
You can now drag buttons around to easier customize the UI:
For instance if you no longer find the Help button helpful (the information there is getting increasingly outdated! Sorry about that...) you can drag it from the main menu onto the 'Other actions' button and drop it and it will now reside in this section. Alternatively you can drag a button from the other actions section to the home button to have it located there for easier access.
The consultation challenge where you play against an opponent over 10 random positions (you can change position type/difficulty) now has a review section where you can go back and discuss positions with your opponent when one or both of you got the answer wrong. I think this can be a great learning experience!
Now the trick is finding someone to play with so currently I suspect your best option is to recruit a friend from your local backgammon club and use it to settle who is actually the best backgammon player! No lucky roll of the dice is involved so your backgammon knowledge is the only thing that will save the day! :-)
I am sure there are some more improvements I have forgotten to mention but you can read all about those in the new improvements section.
Give it a try! :-)
TP