Category: Instructional
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How To Avoid Your Worst Blunders
Blunders. Let’s talk about Blunders.
Your worst ones.
How can you avoid them? Is there a method?
Continue to read: How To Avoid Your Worst Blunders — by Itzhak Solsky
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Introducing Access
Can our opponent really think they could use the space left behind our checkers as their own personal dumpster?
Is that even a safe approach?
Or are they in for some shocking surprises?
Read all about it (and more!) in my first backgammon article: Introducing Access.
— Itzhak Solsky
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Gibraltar Open 2020: Mochy v Sebastian Wilkinson
Robin ‘Rain’ Bilderbeek and Michel Lamote have edited the video of the commentated match between Mochy and Sebastian Wilkinson, with among others additional XG analysis of interesting situations. Great stuff!
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The Alligators of the Cayman Islands
by Luc Palmans
It’s not my habit to (ab)use this website for communicating personal messages, but the recent events in the Caribbean reminded me at a personal hurricane I experienced when I was active in that part of the world, a very long time ago.
A business partner from Panama (a country only famous for its canal and baseball players) informed me about an interesting job offer at the Cayman Islands. Because economic prospects in Europe were those days not high, I tried my luck. Tests and interviews went very well, and to make a long story short: I got the job. There only remained the discussion about my moderate fee. A meeting with the CEO of the firm was arranged.
At the parking of the impressive office building, the security didn’t show much interest in my Lamborghini, and finally there was an apprentice who was willing to park my car somewhere in a faraway corner, behind the Rolls Royces and the Bentleys.
At 13:56 sharp I presented myself at the desk. A six-foot high beautiful blond secretary directed me to the office of the CEO at the end of a long corridor. The renaissance paintings and 18th century classical sculptures gave me the feeling that I was in the Uffizi in Florence. But I must also confess that my eyes were mostly blurred by the bumping derrière of the secretary. And the sound of the 16 centimetre high steel point heels, who mercilessly tortured the marble floor, ricocheted several days in my ears.
I was received by the CEO in a luxurious conference room with another marble floor and more pictures, sculptures and antique furniture. I took place at a long table; at the opposite site there were sitting three people. In the middle there was Xavier, the CEO, who did most of the talking. A woman and a man were sitting next to him and they only agreed with what Xavier was saying. The name of the man was “De Herdt” or something. I don’t remember the name of the woman, but she reminded me at the actress who played Snow White in a movie I saw in my childhood. A butler served us drinks and remained in the room.
After some introductory small talk, and a discussion about the results of my tests came finally the big moment: the money. How little would I earn if I joined the firm?
Before I continue I will explain something about the payments and taxes on the Cayman Island, for the few readers who are not familiar with this. There are three sort of payments: a normal fee, an extra fee and a super extra fee. Of course, on the Cayman Island we gladly like to pay our taxes. After all, someone has to pay the roads to our gated communities, don’t they? Not surprisingly, there are also three sort of taxes: a normal, an extra and a super extra.
Xavier gave me the choice between two propositions. Without going into details, the difference in these propositions concerned mostly the timing of payment.
In the first proposition (let’s call it “pay me later”) I would earn 8540 $ per hour; plus an extra 85 $ and even a super extra 1 $. I had to pay 1460 $ taxes, plus 6 $ extra taxes. Luckily, in this proposition I didn’t have to pay any super extra taxes.
I would earn more in the second proposition (“pay me now”): 8683 $ per hour; plus 346 $ extra and 8 $ super extra. And I had to pay less taxes: 1317 $, although a little bit more extra taxes (39 $) and even 1 $ super taxes.
I don’t claim that I can write and read, but I can count figures. Especially when there are $- or €-signs behind these figures, not to mention Swiss Francs. I had no doubts. “Pay me now” was the best for me: Highest fee and lowest taxes. That’s my idea of a contract.
“I take the second proposition,” I firmly stated, with an air of “I am a man of the world and you can’t fool me”.
Xavier observed me a long time with a poker face, and then slowly asked: “Are you sure?”
I didn’t have to look again at the figures. I was never so sure in my life.
“I take the second proposition,” I repeated, and I made a personal note that in a next life I should be an actor in mafia-movies.
“O.K. Agreed,” said Xavier.
Suddenly, I heard the butler behind me scream “Yeees!”. Xavier, Snow White and De Herdt jumped out of their seats, jelled some sounds and started to make high-fives. Immediately, Xavier took the contract and put it under my nose, and pushed a Mont Blanc fountain pen in my hands.
I must confess that I was a little bit surprised by their reaction, but before I realized what was happening, I had put my signature under the contract, and immediately a security guard grabbed the documents out of my hands and would undoubtedly hide them in a safe, deep down in the cellars of the building.
The celebrating Xavier and his associates didn’t notice me anymore and another security guard guided me politely but firmly out of the room. I left the building via a backdoor, where the Latino cleaning ladies held their smoke break.
The apprentice at the parking threw the keys to me, and while I was searching my car, I was still wandering what had happened. I was 100% sure about my decision, and I really couldn’t understand the reaction of Xavier and his co-workers.
I was still flabbergasted when I drove back in my Lamborghini to my trophy wife in our penthouse on the beach (“Her penthouse after the divorce,” one of her lawyers informed me at my wedding party). By the way, she was furious when I told her what had happened.
Meanwhile the webmaster of BGFed.be will go berserk and because this is a backgammon website I will, for good measures, include a backgammon position, completely unrelated with the story above.
Blackk to play 63 I was witnessing the match. Black was leading 2-away/4-away with the cube still in the middle. He played the safe 8/2 6/3. After the match I told him that in this sort of positions you have to push the defender away. 7/1* 4/1 is the move. Every backgammon hustler knows this.
Admittedly … there is a little risk involved with 4 immediate hits from the bar (52 and 53), and 55 would be the start of a close race. But after 8/2 6/3 the position of Black is by no means safe. And in fact a few moves later (after he correctly doubled and his opponent erred with a take) Black had to leave a blot, was hit and lost the game and match. But that’s of course immaterial for the decision he has to make in the diagram position.
As I expected, the bots confirmed my explanation with cool and undisputable figures.
1. Rollout1 8/2 6/3 eq: +0,984 Player:
Opponent:85,40% (G:0,85% B:0,01%)
14,60% (G:0,06% B:0,00%)Conf.: ± 0,002 (+0,982…+0,986) – [100,0%]
Duration: 1,5 seconds2. Rollout1 7/1* 4/1 eq: +0,857 (-0,127) Player:
Opponent:86,83% (G:3,46% B:0,08%)
13,17% (G:0,39% B:0,01%)Conf.: ± 0,003 (+0,854…+0,859) – [0,0%]
Duration: 17,3 seconds3. 2-ply 8/2 4/1* eq: +0,685 (-0,299) Player:
Opponent:75,93% (G:3,02% B:0,07%)
24,07% (G:0,72% B:0,02%)4. 1-ply 7/4 7/1* eq: +0,580 (-0,404) Player:
Opponent:71,37% (G:2,35% B:0,04%)
28,63% (G:2,40% B:0,01%)5. 1-ply 8/2 7/4 eq: +0,448 (-0,537) Player:
Opponent:66,54% (G:1,11% B:0,01%)
33,46% (G:1,20% B:0,00%)1 1296 Games rolled with Variance Reduction.
Moves: 3-ply, cube decisions: XG Rollerwww.eXtremeGammon.com Version: 2.10, MET: Kazaross XG2
Or not?
Comments welcome below!
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Match strategy and volatility
The fresh BIC 2016 champion Walter Meuwis has taken the exceptional step of sharing his knowledge and experience with the larger backgammon community. His insights in how a larger awareness of the volatility of a position and the application of a proper match strategy can make you a more succesful tournament player have been cristallized into the following article. Food for thought…
Match Strategy and Volatility – by Walter Meuwis (December 19, 2016)
Disclaimer: the views expressed in the article are purely those of the author and may not be regarded as stating an opinion of the Belgium Backgammon Federation npo nor of its members.
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BBD1 : Round 1 : Zsolt Tasnadi vs Alain Chif. Trouble in Prime County.
In the first round of BBD1 two players of the Brussels Four Cubes team were pitted against each other. Zsolt Tasnadi and Alain Chif have worked their way up the national ranking to the edge of the top-10. They are working hard to make the step from Intermediate to Advanced level.
Their match was witnessed by nobody except the camera. All other players were completely wrapped up in their own decision-making processes. Their matches have disappeared into nothingness. The Tasnadi-Chif match, however, has now been transcribed in XG and fully annotated. If you are a member of BGFed, you can send me an e-mail (kynos8000@gmail.com) and we (i.e. Zsolt, Alain, and I) will share this fascinating contest with you. You can review it at leasure and – hopefully – learn something from the annotations.
Game 3 was particularly instructive. Zsolt is leading 2-1, which makes this a 5-away 6-away game. This is a very challenging match score, especially when the cube has been turned. It requires some in-depth understanding to fully grasp the implications of re-cube action. Fortunately for us, this is no issue here, as the game played itself out with the cube in the middle. Let us see what happened :
Game 3
Zsolt Tasnadi (Red) needs 5 Alain Chif (White) needs 6
1. —– 61 : 13/7 8/7
2. 61 : 13/7 8/7 41 : 24/20 24/23
3. 43 : 24/20 24/23 52 : 13/8 6/4*
4. 61 : bar/24 20/14 52 : 13/8 6/4
5. 31 : 8/5* 6/5 62 : bar/17*
6. 31 : bar/22 6/5 ?
Position 1. White on roll.
Should he double to 2? Can Red take?This is a borderline No Double for money, but ats ( = at the score), White can turn the cube. White’s Gammon Value (GV) is slightly higher and so is Red’s Takepoint (TP). White is up 21 pips in the race, has a better position (one checker semi-escaped + the bar- and 4-point) and some powerful threats.
White’s Winning Chances: 66,23% (G:20,00% B:0,72%)
Red’s Winning Chances: 33,77% (G:7,11% B:0,26%)No double: +0,763 (-0,076)
Double/Take: +0,840
Double/Pass: +1,000 (+0,160)Best Cube action: Double / Take
6. 65 : 23/17 8/3*
7. 31 : bar/22* 6/5 61 : ?
Position 2. White on roll to play 61. 61 : bar/24 17/11
After entering with the ace, White cannot afford to give up the 17-point. Alain must be suffering from early morning drowsiness, because this is an error you cannot afford to make. With a stranded checker on the 24-point, you simply must keep the 17-point to keep that man connected. This is a bad mistake (0,166) simply because the correct move is so obvious.
8. 21 : 6/4 5/4 61 : ?
Position 3. White on roll to play 61. Alain is lucky to have rolled a joker, but unlucky in that there is such an attractive alternative (with a 63 the choice would be crystal clear). How can making the 5-point be wrong? Well, this is a pvp-position (prime-vs-prime) and this territory is governed by different laws. A useful guideline is : Do what is most difficult first. Here, your back man is away from the edge of a 4-prime, so he can only successfully jump to the 17-point with 61 and 52 (4 rolls out of 36). Making the 5-point is much more probable : 61, 63, 31, 66, 44, 33, 11 do the job (10/36).
Still, the resulting position after Alain’s move is worth a look :
Position 3a.
After 11/5 6/5.It is easy to see the lure of this position : White has a 5-prime with a spare and only one man behind a stripped 4-prime. Red on the other hand has 2 men behind a 5-prime. The value of the assets is clearly in White’s favour. However, the problem is that Red is on roll : 15 rolls hit the blot on the 17-point and nine 2s anchor up (Red hits with 32). In other words, Red’s initiative negates his positional disadvantages. This is a very important concept in pvp-games. By the way, I would not be surprised if chess players were more likely to go for the 5-prime here than non-chess players.
Another aspect is the cube. After reconnecting with the blot on the 17-point, White is close to a Double if Red does not roll something spectacular like 42, 62, 64 or 22. After making the 5-point, Red has 5s that hit and 2s that anchor, leaving a No Double, Take position. The computer labels this a monstrous blunder (0,447). However, pvp-positions are notoriously complex, so I would not beat myself up over this, had I got it wrong.
1. XG Roller++ 24/17 eq:+0,759
Player: 66,98% (G:13,44% B:0,42%)
Opponent: 33,02% (G:5,81% B:0,19%)2. XG Roller++ 24/23 17/11 eq:+0,388 (-0,370)
Player: 58,16% (G:14,58% B:0,63%)
Opponent: 41,84% (G:10,23% B:0,35%)3. XG Roller++ 11/5 6/5 eq:+0,312 (-0,447)
Player: 55,27% (G:16,33% B:0,79%)
Opponent: 44,73% (G:11,74% B:0,53%)9. 31 : 13/9 22 : ?
Position 4. White on roll to play 22. Alain was not punished for his mistake and should have doubled here. Failing to do so, costs 0,112. Once again, the dice offer him a tricky choice : one might be tempted to make a full 6-prime with 13/9 (2). Alain keeps a cool head though and finds the right priorities : safety the blot (17/13), come to the edge of the prime (24/22) and put a spare on the 6-point (8/6). Well played!
10. 31 : 13/9 44 : ?
Position 5. White on roll to play 44. It is almost comical how Alain is once again confronted with a great roll which is so difficult to play. What would you do? Surely one looks at 13/9 (2) 13/5, right? This builds a 6-prime with a great distribution of spares. However, this is a massive blunder, costing 0,342! The key to this position is that Alain is behind a broken 5-prime himself and needs to roll a 5 to escape. Chances of doing that are only 30% (11/36), so that may take a few rolls. Alain’s timing is precarious : his 6-prime may only hold for one or two rolls if a 5 does not come quickly. Therefore he needs to prevent Red from either counter-priming or attacking him. This is achieved by putting Red on the bar. Several plays are worth considering, but the best way to do that is to point-and-shift : 7/3* (2) 5/1* (2)(!!). Congrats to the reader if he got this one right.
1. XG Roller++ 7/3*(2) 5/1*(2) eq:+0,958
Player: 67,28% (G:47,04% B:0,45%)
Opponent: 32,72% (G:6,25% B:0,35%)11. 32 : 24/22 13/10 53 : 22/14 (the required 5)
12. 51 : 9/3 32 : 14/11 6/4
13. 41 : 9/8 7/3 Double to 2
14. Pass.
After this game the score was tied at 2-2 (7). Game 4 turned into an exciting blitz : Alain found a world-class Take and Zsolt struggled with the checker-plays. You can review this game and the rest of the annotated match by simply sending me an e-mail (see above).
M
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Game Plan and Initiative
Below please find an article (in Dutch) written by Luc Palmans, discussing some interesting positions from a match he played on February 24, 2012, with Michel Lamote at the Leuven club championship. In order to highligh the concepts at work, Luc relates the positions to similar ones involving some famous players.
