I recently bought Backgammon Masterclass by Marc Olsen and Masayuki Mochizuki. I'm not quite done with it but I've read most of it.
The book is 3 cm thick, which is thicker than most backgammon books, so you might wonder if it is jam-packed with information that will take you a lifetime to plow through and master. But that is not at all the case. There are plenty of books out there which contain more positions and more bot data, and cover a far wider range of topics.
Is that a criticism of the book? Au contraire! (Gotta throw in some French since this is Stick's forum.) The strength of the book lies in its laser focus. The book has four sections, two by Mochy and two by Marc, which are based on lecture series that they have given in the past.
1. Strategic Visualization: Priming or Blitzing (by Mochy)
2. Game Plan Dynamics (by Marc)
3. Backgame Strategy (by Mochy)
4. Cube Action in Undefined Positions (by Marc)
Instead of taking the approach of many books, which are a mile wide and an inch deep, the authors focus on a small number of topics that have been carefully chosen to yield maximum bang for your buck. The trouble with much instructional material out there is that it is hard to remember. It all seems to make sense when I'm reading it or listening to it, but two hours later, I've discovered that it's gone in one ear and out the other. I have retained little or nothing.
By contrast, in this book, the authors hammer hard on their chosen concepts, and present the ideas in a way that maximizes the chances that you'll embed it in your long-term memory and achieve a permanent improvement in your play. The quiz positions at the end of each chapter are also carefully chosen. Usually the first positions are relatively easy (though only if you've understood what you've just been taught!), helping you reinforce what you've just learned. Then they move on subtler positions to increase your proficiency. But they avoid those super-tricky positions that confound even the best players; while fascinating and not devoid of value, such super-tricky positions are usually not the most effective for helping the typical reader of the book achieve a permanent improvement in their playing ability.
In short, while you can easily find backgammon books out there that ostensibly have "more content" than this one, it is not easy to find a book that will permanently improve your understanding of backgammon more than this one will.
So far, I've found only one thing in the book to quibble with. On page 96, we find this sentence.
Given that we play with the Jacoby rule in Money games (meaning we cannot win a gammon until the cube is turned), it is better just to run in this instance, increasing our game-winning chances and the probability of getting into efficient cube territory.
Mentioning the Jacoby rule here is misleading. I've seen this misconception many times before; someone will suggest that their choice of checker play is influenced by the Jacoby rule, which is said to require you to double in order to "activate gammons." The truth of the matter is, which checker play the bot deems best almost never depends on whether the Jacoby rule is in force. (If you don't believe me, take any checker-play decision where you think that "activating gammons" is a relevant concept, and try toggling the Jacoby rule on and off. At least 99% of the time, the top checker play will remain the same regardless of the Jacoby rule.) The rare exceptional positions, where the Jacoby rule does make a difference to the checker play, are those in which one or the other player is on the verge of being too good during or immediately after the next exchange.
But as I said, this is the only quibble I've found. This is an outstanding book, and if you buy only one backgammon book this year, this is the one to buy.
APPENDIX: Here's a rare position where the Jacoby rule makes a substantial difference to the checker play. The top play of the rollout with Jacoby is rated very poorly by the rollout without Jacoby.
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| XGID=-A-BCCBb----aB-----cBbbcb-:0:0:1:21:0:0:1:0:10 | |||||
| Blue to play 21 | |||||
| 1. | Rollout1 | 13/11 13/12* | eq: +0.084 | |||
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| 2. | Rollout1 | 4/1 | eq: +0.080 (-0.004) | |||
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| 3. | Rollout1 | 13/12* 5/3 | eq: +0.050 (-0.034) | |||
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| 4. | Rollout1 | 13/12* 12/10 | eq: +0.017 (-0.067) | |||
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| 1 1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction. Rolled for both No double and Double Dice Seed: 271828 First 3 moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller+ Remaining moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller | ||||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.211.pre-release
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| XGID=-A-BCCBb----aB-----cBbbcb-:0:0:1:21:0:0:0:0:10 | |||||
| Blue to play 21 | |||||
| 1. | Rollout1 | 4/1 | eq: +0.082 | |||
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| 2. | Rollout1 | 13/11 13/12* | eq: -0.009 (-0.091) | |||
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| 3. | Rollout1 | 13/12* 5/3 | eq: -0.022 (-0.104) | |||
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| 4. | Rollout1 | 13/12* 12/10 | eq: -0.062 (-0.144) | |||
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| 1 1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction. Rolled for both No double and Double Dice Seed: 271828 First 3 moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller+ Remaining moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Roller | ||||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.19.211.pre-release