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BGonline.org Forums
Daily Quiz 3/29/11
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Daily Quiz 3/29/11 (Stick)
Date: Wednesday, 30 March 2011, at 12:18 a.m.
1. This is pretty close to a position in Kit's Backgammon Encyclopedia. I think the three builders for the 5pt and the relatively close race make this a clear double. The take I'm less sure about. Only 7 rolls close the 5pt immediately so most of the remaining rolls leave some shot jeopardy. Black still has a slight race lead so if Yellow fails to close the 5pt and Black enters and Yellow fails to hit, then Black is in good shape. I think there's enough vig here to take. D/T.
2. Normally it's D/T with three points left to clear in front of a well-timed 1-3 backgame. So at first glance this looks like an easy take. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that Black has a checker on the bar and another blot that might get hit. I think this increases Yellow's gammon wins substantially. Moreover, Black's front position probably won't be that strong if Black hits a shot while he still has six checkers back. I think Black still has a take but my guess is that hitting is a market loser. D/T.
3. My fingers want to play bar/18. Although bar/18 gives Black the option of hitting with any roll other than 55, there are many rolls where Black would clearly make his 6pt if it weren't for the distracting blot. The alternative seems to be bar/22 7/3* to prevent Black from making either the 7pt or the 6pt next roll. Not totally sure but 7/3* just doesn't feel right so I'll go with my fingers and play bar/18.
4. Yellow's timing seems a little precarious so I'll treat this as a two-way game for this roll at least and hit twice. This could backfire by improving Black's timing, since it's not so easy to escape our checkers from behind Black's broken five-prime, but I think it's worth trying. 23/17* 9/8*. Is Stick really going to post a rollout for a position like this one?
5. This looks like one of those positions that Stick would call a next while I'm left scratching my head over all the possibilities. The options I see are 21/11, 13/9 13/7, 8/2 6/2, 13/3, and perhaps 13/7 6/2. 13/7 6/2 looks like the weakest of these; if I'm going to play 6/2 then I like 8/2 better than 13/7. Black's homeboard blot should allow us to play a little more boldly than we might otherwise. In particular I think I would dismiss 21/11 otherwise. Here it looks plausible, though I still don't like running when behind in the race. And we will be very unhappy if our back checker is successfully attacked. 13/3 doesn't seem to improve our position, which is getting inflexible. I'm inclined to play 13/9 13/7 or 8/2 6/2. On the principle that Black's homeboard blot allows us to play somewhat boldly, I'll go for 13/9 13/7, which seems to gain the most when it works.
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