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BGonline.org Forums
OLM Fr 04/30/10
Posted By: Chase In Response To: OLM Fr 04/30/10 (Casper van der Tak)
Date: Friday, 30 April 2010, at 5:44 p.m.
I had a tough time with this one. Here's how I approached it.
We no longer have the time to play with 5 checkers back, so it seems like one of the 4s needs to be 20/16. The next decision is whether we should leave the 16pt slotted or make the point with 24/16. Leaving it slotted is a mixed bag. It puts slightly more pressure on W, but it also allows him to distract us with a hit if he rolls something poor like 52. The slot does help with our timing if we wish to maintain everything for a while. If hit, we re-enter and head home again; if missed, we bring the checker around and use it to build the board we will need somewhat soonish.
Making the point with 20/16 is more committal. Giving up the ace point doesn't seem like a big deal now, but I like the security of having that last line of defense. If we had something strong to do on the other side of the board with, I wouldn't mind hanging onto the 24pt until things resolve a little.
But there isn't much to do on the other side of the board. Making the 9pt, putting a spare on the 5pt, and making the 2pt are all small improvements, but none of them thrill me since we're short on material up front and they aren't very flexible.
All of this tipped the scales and got me looking seriously at 24/20 20/16(2). Other than the loss of the 24pt, this is quite solid, asserting more outfield control and trying to force the issue now rather than sitting back and waiting for W to come to us. It then "clicked" that this is what I should have been thinking from the start. We've got a solid defensive position, so we should be trying to amp up the pressure and make something happen rather than waiting and hoping something happens. This reminds me of what Matt said in his interview with Phil about wasting time focusing on details of the position that aren't that relevant. I do that a lot, I think.
In any case, having decided to make the 16pt with three of the 4s, I chose 13/9 for the last one. Leaving the guard on the 24pt makes it harder for W to dump checkers behind our anchor, and with the 16pt made, the value of the midpoint drops and we'll be needing those checker to fill in our board.
A bit long winded, I know, but that's how I got there.
24/20 20/16(2) 13/9
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