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As yet, Blue does not have the timing necessary for a proper backgame. He trails by only 32 pips. For me, that nixes making the second anchor. With the 2, I think Blue must play 23/21, challenging White’s blot on the 15pt. This will give Blue a chance to either hit or make a better anchor. White will have to deal with the threat one way or another, so that takes away some of the initiative from him. In a money game, I would probably play the 1 outside, 8/7, but it would not surprise me to learn that 23/22 was correct. White has only 9 checkers in the zone, so leaving 4 blots in White’s inner board is not as dangerous as it may seem. The extra contact may be just what Blue needs to recapture one of White’s checkers. The position posed, however, is effectively DMP. At this score, the blitz is less effective. It earns much of its equity from gammons, and those won’t count once the cube get turned. In this position, then, I’ll go with the blots. Mike | ||||||||||||
