Game 2, move 14: gaspar 2-2

[diane]

Position ID: trUCgA2Gzw8GAA
Match ID: MAGpABAAAAAA

[gaspar]

You ever prepare a fancy meal --- watch the souflée rise precariously like a mother hen, set the table with the finest china, dust off the candleopppp---those fancy candle holder things....All of this for the guest that--never showed up....in the best case scenario you will still have a holding game of sorts..

well patience pays off of for your hero, honestly i dont know what roll i would have liked but dbl 4's would have been good in short term...but i really have two objectives here..to keep all of my checkers in front of you so they still play, and to avoid leaving a shot..this requires some small rolls but at the same time my 3's and 1's dont play so well ...so in that view dbl 2's is in some ways ..my best roll....

I recommend , for any backgammon player, a healthy dose of chess.  Being good at chess is virtually impossible since either you are born with the innate ability to play----some would say that you ability to play chess in inversely proportionally to your popularity with girls....i guess that's why my "hot chess wives" 2002 calender didnt sell well...Boris Spassky's wife with the matching hairy mole as miss january i think ruined the whole project (she's 87 but has the body of a 73 year old!!)

but i dawdle......chess teaches you patience that i think backgammon players lack in general...if you have ever contemplated a move longer than 1 minute in a chouette or when playing amongst "friends" you will hear heckles and jeers....and now with clocks , the time pressure is being ratcheted up ....

not that i support those players with turtleitis that pore over practically forced moves , but i must voice my protest against the current trend to "hurry " the game up....(except in doubles play )

did i mention my move LOL  13-9 (2)  BRING down my midpoint checkers . it brings my midpoint into striking range but it sure does make your dbl 5's play bad.....

----i need a byline like diane's "dont give up of things......"------

[ah_clem]

hmmmm....

My take on this position is that white will probably wind up leaving a shot at some point, so I'd move to the 11 point so that the shot will be a double-indirect shot (12/36) instead of a double-direct shot at the nine point. Also,  Once you've moved to the nine point, the only way to safely clear it is with 3-1 or small doubles, and 3-1 is already spoken for.  Moving to the 11 gives you 5-3 and 3-1 as good clearing rolls, plus all doubles play well.

Making the 11 just seems more flexible to me, but of course I might be wrong here...my play makes an ugly stack on the 6 and doesn't block 5's for our backmen.  We'll probably have to abandon one of the anchors to preserve our board in a roll or two, and the blocking play might force us to play off our own six point instead of moving out and preserving timing.

[ah_clem]

rollout

Spoiler

    1. Rollout          13/11(2) 8/6(2)              Eq.:  +0.538
       0.613 0.064 0.004 - 0.387 0.053 0.001 CL  +0.249 CF  +0.538
      [0.002 0.001 0.001 - 0.002 0.001 0.001 CL   0.005 CF   0.010]
        Full cubeful rollout with var.redn.
        1296 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 881709475 and quasi-random dice
        Play: 0-ply cubeful prune [expert]
        Cube: 0-ply cubeful prune [expert]
    2. Rollout          13/9(2)                      Eq.:  +0.448 ( -0.090)
       0.599 0.068 0.002 - 0.401 0.071 0.001 CL  +0.206 CF  +0.448
      [0.002 0.001 0.000 - 0.002 0.001 0.000 CL   0.004 CF   0.010]
        Full cubeful rollout with var.redn.
        1296 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 881709475 and quasi-random dice
        Play: 0-ply cubeful prune [expert]
        Cube: 0-ply cubeful prune [expert]

[close]