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Othello Quiz 2023
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Othello Quiz 2023 (Masanori Ichikawa)
Date: Saturday, 27 May 2023, at 1:56 p.m.
I posted my answers to the USENET newsgroup rec.games.backgammon but figured I might as well re-post them here.
1. White is well behind in the pip count with the better board, so he is looking to hit a shot. I would play 22/17 13/7 aiming to hit Red's straggler. Note that Red's 4's and 5's are duplicated to hit and cover. I don't think the score makes a big difference, but if anything, 4-away/3-away should encourage bold, gammonish play.
2. Magriel's criteria all suggest a safe play, so even though 8/4 6/1 is ugly, I'm going to play it, because the alternatives all expose fresh blots and look worse to me.
3. I'm surprised to see 13/9*/3 as a candidate. That probably means that 13/9*/3 isn't the worst of the 6 plays, which in turn suggests to me that 13/9* is probably part of the top play. I'm going to try the blitzing play 13/9* 8/2*.
4. The opponent's board is weak so breaking anchor carries little risk, and seems to me to be better than the non-anchor-breaking plays. So it's a choice between 22/13 and 22/18 13/8. I prefer to unstack with 22/18 13/8 than to pile up on the already-heavy midpoint. Again, I'm not too worried about having my blots attacked given Red's weaknesses.
5. 24/21 6/5 looks like the QF play. Red's stacks mean that we're hoping she'll be forced to expose a blot, and we want to anchor to avoid getting pointed on. Moves that don't anchor or that give up the 24pt look weaker to me, so 24/21 6/5 it is. The blots in our board are not serious weaknesses because our board is still plenty strong, and we have plenty of opportunities to re-make one or both of those points.
6. I may get dinged hard for this play, but 23/17 13/12* is my instinct. The motivation is that even though we're 35 pips down before the roll, I think we have to play this as a priming battle and not a backgame. So I take the opportunity to jump a checker over the prime and send another checker behind my own prime. This also gives me some chances of extending my own prime to a five-prime. Red has 2's to hit back, but her 2's are duplicated, and I don't mind too much if she enters on my 2pt. The downside, of course, is that things could go poorly and I could get blitzed off the board, and it is gammon save after all. I'll go with 23/17 13/12* nonetheless.
7. This is another one of those positions where we have a big race deficit and a stronger board, so I think we need to play to hit Red's straggler. I start with 21/16 and then is 13/10 too bold? It duplicates Red's 3's. I'll try it.
8. I think we need the tempo. 6/1*. Even if Red hits back on my 1pt, she still has to get over my five-prime.
9. Way behind in the pip count again. I go all in with 13/8 13/7. If Red doesn't roll a 6 then we gain hugely.
10. We have an advantage here and are hoping to turn the cube next turn. So I think we don't want to get hit back. That means I'm choosing between bar/24 6/5*(3) and bar/24 6/5*/4*/3. Killing a checker to the 3pt seems premature, so I'll go with bar/24 6/5*(3).
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