Your Move

Your Move

 

The author has played backgammon for nearly 50 years. Not even close to being a professional player he settled for a grade that enabled him to claim to be something of an       expert - many of his opponents would politely disagree.

 

When he first started playing backgammon he would have liked to have had a book which covered all of the basics and more to advance his game as quickly as possible.

 

The book would also have to offer solid advice and demonstrate techniques that would develop an early awareness of the tactics and strategies behind every strong player.

 

It would be really helpful if there were plenty of positions shown, that were analysed, and explanations given of just what might be going on in the minds of strong players.

 

The reader would end up with a set of straightforward tools and ideas to carry into every game with a growing sense of knowing what they were doing.

 

By scoring the answers to every position the reader will be able determine their strengths and weaknesses and increasingly apply what they discover to their overall game.

 

 

This book will improve your backgammon.

 

 

 

 

All illustrations are the author's, unless indicated otherwise.

How Old?

How Old?

 

Backgammon is a two-player board game played with checkers and dice. It is one of the oldest board games, with people having played it for over 5,000 years. The game may look complicated at first, but it’s surprisingly easy to play once you get the hang of it.

 

Backgammon brings together luck and skill, as well as timing, tactics and psychological warfare.

 

Backgammon provides a competitive form of entertainment in a social environment. It is a great way to socialise with others and provides a temporary escape from the pressures of life. In addition, with problems to solve and some maths involved, it is a great way to keep your mind sharp.

 

 

 Gamblers Quarrelling 1665

painting by Jan Steen 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Steady lads it’s only a game”

 

Introduction

Introduction

 

This book is written with the intention of helping beginners and improvers who are relatively new to the wonderful game of backgammon.

 

Backgammon is easy to learn but difficult to master. Playing game after game will help to improve any player but is that the most effective strategy?

 

It will help but no it isn't!

 

What is more important is to learn from your mistakes. However, would you be aware of any error you make and could you answer the most important question of all as your dice settle on the board…

 

 

WHAT NEXT? Followed by WHY?

 

Win or Lose?

Win or Lose?

 

A backgammon game will typically last around 25 moves although 30’s and 40’s or more will come around. That is 25 chances to make an error or blunder; each one at some cost.

 

Over a single game two players of equal skill would expect to win 50% of their games. However, over a series of games a stronger player would have an increasing probability of winning against a weaker player and often significantly so.

 

What’s going on here?

 

Backgammon is not a game of pure chance. With a roll of two dice, some numbers are more likely than others. What you do with your roles are where the skill comes in. Stronger players will have a tendency to choose better moves and therefore win a higher percentage of their games. Experience counts. The higher percentage of wins is not magic. So what is it?

 

‘Experience’ is an increasing awareness and accumulation of a skill set and how to use it. No two games will ever be exactly the same. But many positions will be similar. Strong players will have reached these similar positions hundreds or thousands of times, and developed rules of thumb, or heuristics, to help them decide ‘what next’?

 

How to Use this Book

How to Use this Book

 

This book will provide dozens of positions to challenge the reader to decide ‘what next’ by trying to find the best move. The best move and other useful moves will be examined and suggestions made as to why these moves are good and why. The objective is to let the reader understand the strategy behind the moves and to establish a set of heuristics that they can apply to their own games.

 

It is felt that it will be useful to score each set of moves so that readers can ascertain where they might be weak and to concentrate on improving those areas. The best three moves in each position will offer scores of 5, 3, and 1. If you wish to, you can keep a running score of how many 5’s. 3’s and 1’s you have accumulated. If you didn’t find a top three move then also keep track of these ‘0’s’

 

In advance, please don’t expect to hit the big scores in every position. All positions will offer some challenges together with suggestions to explain why the possible moves are played.

 

By completing all of the positions a reader should develop an increasing skill-set to apply to the positions they reach in their own games.

 

Backgammon is a game where skills increase over time as performance improves.

 

This book aims to speed the process along for those relatively new to the game.

 

You may find it easier to consider each position if you have a physical board in front of you and set-up each position as you come to them.

 

This book will improve your game!

In the Beginning

 In the Beginning

 

A game of backgammon has three phases,

 

• a beginning

• a middle and

• an end

 

This is hardly a revelation!

 

A game can be won or lost in each of these phases and each phase has its own challenges to resolve.

 

Each position in this book will show the phase it is in, with a bit of give and take as phases overlap.

 

Keep score – are you weaker in one phase or another? Find out why.

 

Understanding is all – that takes experience.

 

Below is a finished game – white has won by one point out of the 167 from the start. Just more than 0.5%

 

Black may well be asking ‘could I have played differently somewhere and gained a few pips or not lost as many pips here and there?’ A very good question.

 

To repeat – backgammon is a game of small margins over many decisions.

 

Let’s increase your odds of a win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positional Play

Positional Play

 

The Opening Position

 

A position familiar to all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Famous Five

The Famous Five

 

With your every move you will be trying to create;

 

1. A ‘made’ point which is any point with 2 or more checkers on it. No one can take it off you - it’s yours to do with as you like.

 

1. A golden point - these are your 5, 4 and 7 points and also those of your opponent. They are key strategic points and improve your chances of winnings if you hold one or more of them.

 

1. Primes - are several made points in a row. Typically 6,5,4 in a row or 3 if you want to call it a mini-prime. They create an effective, powerful blocking mechanism. If you manage 6 in a row then your opponent cannot get past them. This causes your opponent real problems as their dice roll possibilities are now far more limited. Another massive benefit is that your opponent may not be able to maximise their throws thereby wasting pips - a terrible sin!

 

1. An anchor - a point in your opponent’s home board with two or more of your checkers on it. It’s meant to be a total nuisance to your opponent in filling up and making points in their home board. Some points are better than others. For example your opponent’s five point is really good then either their 4 point or their bar (7) point (nearest point outside their home board). The reason their five point is so good is that it can target your opponent’s five points in their outer board and any hit there is worth good points. Making the 5, and four points are similarly valuable in your home board and if you can add your 6 point to make a short prime then you have a strong position.

 

1. A builder. Its aim in life is to be a blot on which you hope to build (get it.) a made point and a good made point at that. The process is known as ‘slotting.’ Even if your opponent can hit the blot (hopefully at longish odds) then the gain is worth the risk. In some games you may want to make a strong point and even though the risk is high the pay-off is so valuable it is worth placing a builder - especially if your odds of making the point on your next throw are good.

 

HIT AN OPPONENT’S BLOT!

 

But only if it gives a clear advantage with little risk. Or you are losing by so much you can take a bigger risk. If your opponent then hits you one more checker is sent back into the opponent’s home board to aid your defence.

 

A bit about dice throws

 

A beginner might find it strange that there are 36 ways to throw 2 dice. It is because a throw of 2/1 can also be thrown by a 1/2! a 6/3 by a 3/6 etc..

The reason it’s useful to know is that as your experience grows you can work out or approximate the chances of being hit if you leave a blot. That will be useful if you have a choice of where to leave your blot.

 

 

Opening Moves

 

There are ‘known’ opening moves for every throw of the dice. You can find these on-line. If you wanted to you could learn them all, and you’ll come across them in every game you play. The opening moves are essentially trying to create one or more of the five objectives outlined above.

 

That’s a lot to think about but don’t worry. All will be explained as we go through the positions ahead.

 

 

Positional Analysis

Positional Analysis

 

Onto the first position…

 

Please note that the numbering of the points of the board are always numbered from the vantage point of the player on roll.

 

Ready, Steady… Go

 

Three gentlemen engrossed in the game. Liquid refreshment provided (from experience it doesn’t improve your game.) The guy looking distractedly out of the window cannot be a backgammon player. Hats are not a required item.

 

 

 

 

Position 1 – Opening Stage

 

An opening throw of 4-1 for white

 

 

 

Tric Trac Players
Adriaen van Ostade Dutch

1610–85

 

Spend a short amount of time looking at what you might do with the role. Try to think about the famous five and get used to doing that.

 

The analysis that follows will be detailed with thorough explanations as to what is in the mind of the player. As we move on we will have discovered most of the main themes and the analysis will be less detailed as the pertinent points will keep coming up with a shorter commentary.

 

 

So, what did you choose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you went for 13/9, 6/5 congratulations and take 5 points. For a beginner this may look rash. Two blots deliberately left to be hit? Surely a massive risk!?

 

It’s a risk without question, but then every move is. The question is what you get in return. Risk versus reward. And that’s the ultimate aim of your every move.

 

We need to remember the famous 5.

 

The golden points - these are your 5, 4 and 7 points and also those of your opponent. They are key strategic points and improve your chances of winnings if you hold one or more of them.

 

You can lose by just 1 pip, that’s 1/167 or 0.6% any ‘best’ move will probably give you that! Unfortunately the opposite is also true and the contest over approximately 25 moves will often sway one way or another.

 

White’s move here is to try and make one of the golden points. That’s the 7,5 or 4. The builder on 5 is hoped to be joined by a checker on the next move making an anchor which black cannot attack. Failing that white would happily make an anchor on the 7th point or the 4th. There are many ways to achieve the above.

 

Black will want to strongly contest white’s objectives and hit any of white’s blots by throwing the dice and making a 4 or 6 anyway they can. Fortunately for black there are far more ways to hit a white blot than miss, over 80% in fact. If black hits a blot white can lose at least 16 pips.

 

So has white blundered? No. What’s the chances of black hitting both blots. Only a 4/3 would do that. Therefore 2 chances in 36 or under 6%

 

White is likely to make an anchor on their next turn either on the 5 or 7 point. Making a point on the 7 will give white a ‘prime’ of three checkers in a row. Primes are one of the famous 5 listed earlier.

 

Primes make it ever more difficult for black to get his back checkers on the 24 point out and running for home. Three in a row isn’t the best prime but white will hope to make anchors on the 9 or 5 point later in the game. That would be a significant advantage and one worth risking the move they made.

 

A slight diversion on ‘primes’

 

Primes are a powerful weapon to create. They make it far more difficult for your opponent in many ways,

 

• They reduce the number of possible choices your opponent has. A prime stops an opponent landing on the prime making it harder to find a ‘best’ move which may be unavailable to them

• If there is a pair trying to pass the prime it is so much harder to do so, often relying on large doubles. Especially so if it is your opponent’s back checkers that can be delayed.

• It might well be the case that your opponent can get one checker past the prime but may have to leave a blot. That might be dangerous with a back pair as you can then attack the blot with everything you have. Often called a blitz as the blot can be hit time after time and sent off the board to come back in and face the prime

• If you can, extend the primes to 4, 5, or 6 in length with increasing benefits. A prime of length 6 is impossible to pass and will go a long way to having a winning advantage. Maintain your primes as long as you can.

 

 

The second best move you may have found is 24/23 and 13/9. If you suggested this then take 3 points.

 

The move is a more conservative one than the best move. The 13/9 is aimed at trying to help make the 7 or 5 point. Failing that, white would like to make the 9 point or the 4 next turn - both highly useful. The 9 point for example can be used as a ‘landing’ point for any checkers approaching white’s home board. Once there are three checkers on the 9 they can target the 7 and 5 points.

 

Once the 9 point is made then white would like to make the 7 point and create a 4 point prime.

 

The 24/23 move is often used as a way of getting a 1 out of the way to avoid creating a blot elsewhere that might offer a low reward and a high risk.

It should be noted that even though 24/23 offers 2 blots for black to hit, the points are ‘unattractive’ for black. The reason is best explained in terms of comparing a made point on your 6 with the 1 point.

The 6 can hit all points in the home board and help to send black’s blots onto the bar. Or help make points in the home board. One of your checkers on the 1 point even if joined by another is effectively out of the game.

 

The difference between the two moves can be expressed in terms of the difference in the match winning chances (MWC). It should be no surprise that a game between two players of equal skill will result in a 50% MWC at the beginning of a game.

We have also understood that small differences can be enough to win a game. The difference between the MWC of the first two moves is 0.16%. That's not a lot for one move but over a game successive good moves will provide the edge you need for a win. It’s not all down to you as your opponent may be making mistakes to help you on your way and luck will tend to feature in most games.

 

Trying to find the good moves has to be seen as something to be gained over the long-term.

 

The third best move is 24/23, 24/20 and take 1 point. The positive idea is for white to place a builder on the 20 point (black’s 5 point) and contest a golden point. If white can make the 20 point then it

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Bob Hopkins
Bildmaterialien: The author
Cover: The author
Lektorat: The author
Korrektorat: Various
Satz: Author
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.05.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-4258-5

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