I'm not a fast counter, and haven't practiced counting in years, so all the shortcuts for fast counting are no longer second nature to me, but I can laboriously count both sides of Chuck's position in 16 seconds. Surely I and most folks could do much better with practice.
Don't underestimate what just a little practice can do. Try counting 10 positions and see how long it takes you. Try counting 90 more positions and see how long the last 10 take you. Take a break or two so your brain doesn't boil. Use all the tricks. Recognize the parts of the positions that you will see over and over again, so you don't even have to count them when you count them! For instance:
Blue on roll, cube decision?
| Opponent | 0 |
|---|---|
| |
| Hero | 82 |
Position ID: AAAAts0cDAAAAA Match ID: cAlgAAAAAAAA | |
Blue's position is pretty typical. Parts of it occur over and over. Perhaps White has the 20 point anchor. So how long should it take to get Blue's pipcount? Perhaps a long time if you've no practice counting. But suppose you know that (a) a closed board is 42 pips, so Blue's board is 32 pips, and (b) 3 checkers on the 8 point is 24 pips, and 2 checkers on the 13 point is 26 pips, and 24+26=50. Now, how long does it take to see the position and add 32 plus 50 -- maybe two seconds?