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BGonline.org Forums
Legal moves in tournament play
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Legal moves in tournament play (Bob Koca)
Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2013, at 10:45 p.m.
Bob Koca wrote:
Why should an error of making an illegal play not similarly hurt equity?
Just to be clear, I don't have particularly strong feelings about "legal moves" although I lean slightly in favor of them.
An answer that a legal-moves proponent could give to your above question is that philosophically, making an illegal move is "not playing backgammon" whereas making a poor move is "playing backgammon unskilfully."
As a general comment, imposing specific penalties for a certain kind of infraction in a game typically has the (often unintended) consequence of "legalizing" the infraction. The infraction just becomes part of the game. Fouls in basketball, for example, are just part of the game. While it's still unacceptable to foul someone in a nasty or malicious way, there are many circumstances where a blatant foul is just accepted as standard strategy.
Admittedly, in backgammon, the current rule concerning illegal plays doesn't seem to have turned illegal plays into part of the game. That is, people don't regard it as a standard part of backgammon strategy to make intentionally illegal moves. Nor do books and articles about honing your skill give you matter-of-fact advice about how to increase your alertness to your opponent's intentionally illegal plays. And backgammon problems are always "Blue to play XX" or "Blue on roll; cube action?" not "White played 24/15; accept or demand a legal play?" Nevertheless, some people evidently still feel that the current rule takes a step away from what the game of backgammon "ought" to be about. That's the underlying motivation for a legal-moves rule.
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