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Rollout: Nobody mentioned the bot play

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Sunday, 19 August 2012, at 2:42 a.m.

In Response To: Rollout: Nobody mentioned the bot play (Casper van der Tak)

As I think about the position more, I seem to remember a similar position coming up before here on BGOnline, but I can't find the relevant articles.

Basically what we have here is a violation of the general principle that when you're behind in the race, you should stay back for more contact. When and why might this principle be violated?

The point of staying back, usually, is to cover more territory, and make it hard for the opponent to play safely, so that you increase your chances of hitting a checker and gaining ground in the race.

An exception occurs when your opponent already has one or two checkers back, and it's more effective to bring your whole army forwards to help contain the checker or checkers that are already back, rather than try to stay back and hit another checker to gain ground in the race.

Apparently that's the case here. Despite White's sizable race lead, it is apparently more promising to play to contain the checkers that she already has back, rather than to try to spread out and jockey to hit another checker. I still find it quite surprising that Blue can afford the increased risk of White disengaging and just winning the race, but that seems to be the message.

Of course White's home-board blot and stripped outfield are helpful here. However, even if White's ace point blot is moved back to her midpoint, bar/20 23/13 21/16 is a strong contender for the top play.

Perhaps a more interesting variant is obtained by advancing White's anchor to Blue's bar point. It should be harder to for Blue to contain a more advanced anchor. I haven't done a full rollout, but a quick look suggests that while the decision becomes closer, bar/20 23/13 21/16 still comes out on top.

For another position involving a somewhat related concept of bringing rear checkers forward to get the whole army involved in containment, see this old post.

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