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BGonline.org Forums
Daily Quiz 9/14
Posted By: adambulldog In Response To: Daily Quiz 9/14 (Daily Quiz)
Date: Thursday, 15 September 2011, at 7:12 p.m.
Number 1
This problem seems really obvious. You have to use one 5 to enter, another to hit. What to do with the last two numbers? I guess you could wheel the checker around to safety on the 5-point. That play has the virtue of minimizing blots. You could make the 1-point, achieving a sort of perverse symmetry in owning both ace points. You could stack another checker on the 8-point. You could do some sort of kamikaze blot-strewing play. Or you could just make the 3-point, giving yourself a three-and-a-half point board and a nice cube if white dances. Verdict: Bar/15*, 8/3(2).
Number 2
With this nice roll, the Stick Machine has overtaken the Bot Machine by five pips in the race. Clearly Blue must extricate his back checkers with two of the fives. What to do with the other two? Candidate plays are: 21/11(2), 21/16, 13/8(2), and 21/16, 21/6. A lead of five pips or greater suggests that the race leader wants to break or minimize contact. When ahead in the race you should race. Here, of course, you can’t break contact and significant contact will remain no matter what you do. Whom does contact favor? Although White has more spare sixes to play safely, he clearly doesn’t want to engage in a blot-hitting contest. Blue’s board is a thing of sublime beauty, while White’s inner table suffers from a blot on the ace point and a gaping hole in its middle. White’s sixes are vulnerable to falling into a Vortex of Suck on the ace point. White is the one that wants to disengage and race, even though he is a smidgen behind. The play that vexes White’s plan is 21/11(2). This play blocks White’s 66 and 44, which otherwise are excellent racing numbers. Verdict: 21/11(2).
Number 3
This is a deeply weird position. I had to look at it for a couple of beats before I could figure out which way the checkers were going. I guess White must have rolled snake eyes twice.
Salient features of the position:
Race: White is 22 pips ahead, although the distribution of checkers in his home board suggests that the effective lead is a bit less.
Position: Blue’s position is pretty. He has a strong four point board, no blots, two anchors that stymie any attacking that White might want to do. He has TMP, but I don’t think that matters to much here. White’s position is uglier than Cinderella’s evil sisters. He has some weird stacks, dead checkers on the ace point, double dillies on the four point, a junior straggler Left Behind.
Threats: Blue has no immediate crushing threats other than 66. However, the next sequence may kick something loose on White’s end, and if White leaves a blot Blue will have a strong threat based on the strength of his board.
Match Score: At four-away, five-away the leader should be a little more aggressive with the cube, particularly in gammonish positions, than the trailer should be. This is perhaps a little bit counterintuitive.
Should Blue double? I think so, since I don’t know whether it’s a take or not. I don’t think it’s too good, since Blue has two checkers back and is losing the race. A lot of people will drop this based solely on the ugliness of the position.
This could easily be a drop. I have zero confidence one way or the other. I would be willing to accept the outcome of a coin flip. If I had no coin I guess I would take based on the race lead. Verdict: Double/take.
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