FIBS Board backgammon forum

i liked 11/4 when i saw this first too, but i think the better move is 24/18 24/23 as it is stable, grounds us well for later; gives us more options, and keeps better control of our outer board, whilst perhaps giving us better timing

Making our 4 point far outweighs the considerations you bring up. He's done nothing to improve his board, we have his 5 point, we have loads of timing with our spare checkers deep in his board, and having our midpoint gives us a strong presence in the outfield. We just dont need to hold our 11 point at the expense of making our 4 point.

Bob

Quote from: stog on January 09, 2011, 02:24:11 AM
i liked 11/4 when i saw this first too, but i think the better move is 24/18 24/23 as it is stable, grounds us well for later; gives us more options, and keeps better control of our outer board, whilst perhaps giving us better timing

I had the opposite thought process - I liked 24/18 24/23 at first, but convinced myself that 11/4 is the stronger move.  My reasoning is that we know we want to make the four point, and don't particularly want to hold the 11.  On the other side of things, the 23 point is only marginally more useful than the 24, and slotting the 18 doesn't get us much since we already have the 20 - I've found that owning either the 20 or the 18 is strong, but holding both is of limited utility.  Moreover, the triple shot at the 18 with us having a blot in our homeboard cries "hit me", while 11/4 covers the homeboard blot, leaves many fewer shots, and the resulting three point board will make him think twice before hitting.

What made me like 24/18 24/23 was the fact that a 5-1 backgame structure is notably weak and this roll guves us th chance to improve it; but the thing is,  a 5-2 structure isn't much better and anyway we're not in a backgame yet. 

All that said, I'm not sure I'm right about 11/4. 

i would have been looking to make 22 or 23 as anchors or both or neither eventually- ;)