Somewhere along the way I was exposed to a principle called "connectivity" or something like that, which teaches that you should try to keep your pieces, well, connected, particulary your back men.
In other words, you should try not to leave stragglers all by themselves. That's where the midpoint usually comes in, to provide connectivity for your back men. So, generally, you should not clear the midpoint too early, so as to keep your back men "connected" to the rest of your checkers.
OK, here is an example where I followed the principle to a tee, but the Bot says I screwed up. Will appreciate seeing the reasons why.
Thanks.
The score (after 0 games) is: diegobello 0, You 0 (match to 3 points)
Move number 7: You to play 45
| diegobello | 133 |
|---|---|
| |
| You | 147 |
Position ID: M+bgAyDg85EBAw Match ID: cAl2AAAAAAAA | |
• You moves 11/7 6/1*
| Cube decision | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-ply cubeless equity | +0.011 | (Money: -0.008) | |
| 47.8 11.3 0.2 - 52.2 7.8 0.1 | |||
| Cubeful equities: | |||
| 4-ply cubeful prune | |||
| 1. | No double | -0.027 | |
| 2. | Double, pass | +1.000 | +1.027 |
| 3. | Double, take | -0.561 | -0.534 |
| Proper cube action: | No double, take (34.2%) | ||
Alert: bad move ( -0.068)
| # | Ply | Move | Equity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 13/9 13/8 | -0.232 | |
| 43.1 7.7 0.1 - 56.9 6.9 0.1 | ||||
| 4-ply cubeful prune | ||||
| • | 2 | 4 | 11/7 6/1* | -0.299 ( -0.068) |
| 42.5 8.9 0.1 - 57.5 10.6 0.2 | ||||
| 4-ply cubeful prune | ||||
| 3 | 2 | 20/11 | -0.257 ( -0.025) | |
| 45.7 8.7 0.3 - 54.3 17.5 0.2 | ||||
| 2-ply cubeful prune [world class] | ||||
| 4 | 2 | 11/2 | -0.282 ( -0.050) | |
| 42.6 9.1 0.2 - 57.4 11.3 0.1 | ||||
| 2-ply cubeful prune [world class] | ||||
| 5 | 2 | 11/6 8/4 | -0.293 ( -0.061) | |
| 42.0 8.9 0.2 - 58.0 9.7 0.1 | ||||
| 2-ply cubeful prune [world class] | ||||
| 6 | 0 | 11/7 8/3 | -0.375 ( -0.144) | |
| 40.5 9.2 0.2 - 59.5 13.5 0.2 | ||||
| 0-ply cubeful prune [expert] | ||||