Backgame problem #3
David Montgomery
p0439
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
-----------------------------------------------------
| X O O | | O O O X |
| O O | | O |
| O | | |
| O | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| X | | X X |
| O O X X | | X X |
| O O O X X | | X X X X |
|_______________________|___|_______________________|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
X needs 8, O needs 8. O owns cube on 2. X to play 6-3.
Thanks to Kit Woolsey, Bill Bohn, Toni Wuersch, and Dick King for
commenting on the above problem. Kit and Bill like making the
bar point, by a lot, over any other play. Toni favors 12/6 11/8.
Dick likes 24/15*.
This came up in a match between me and Mel Leifer at this year's
Beltway Backgammon Club Spring Open. Over the board, I played
24/15*. I only considered that play and making the bar. Now
I like making the bar better, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.
Toni argues for the blot saving play because he doesn't want to
end up with 2 back, which is reasonable, but I think making the
bar point has to be superior to this. After making the bar,
4 numbers hit an outfield blot (5-2, 5-3, 6-2, and 6-3), and after
12/6 11/8, 4 numbers still hit the lone outfield blot (6-5, 6-4,
6-3, and 5-4). Its true that after making the bar you have an
additional blot, but you also have much greater containment.
And although the bar point may eventually become a liability, I
think its for right now its a big asset.
24/15* makes certain that X won't get stuck behind O's blockade
with a series of bad rolls, and practically ensures that O won't
win going forward. On the other hand, it helps O's timing, gives O
a chance to make the 23 point, and forgoes the valuable barpoint.
If anyone locally (I know Mel and Joe Freedman read this newsgroup)
wants to play a short prop on this, I'll take either play and
play it for the educational value.
David Montgomery
monty on FIBS
cco...@supervisor.honolulu.xerox
In article <3pp2ku$o...@twix.cs.umd.edu>, <mo...@cs.umd.edu> writes:
> Path: xsoft!parc!nntp-hub.barrnet.net!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!nntp-ucb.barrnet.net!agate!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!doc.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!paladin.american.edu!zombie.ncsc.mil!cs.umd.edu!not-for-mail
> From: mo...@cs.umd.edu (David Montgomery)
> Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon
> Subject: Re: Backgame problem #3
> Date: 22 May 1995 00:06:54 -0400
> Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
> Lines: 53
> Distribution: world
> Message-ID: <3pp2ku$o...@twix.cs.umd.edu>
> NNTP-Posting-Host: twix.cs.umd.edu
reasonable bg player..would seriously like a few hints on internet and more
importantly bg. If this wastes too much time, i understand. thx
Lou Poppler
on Fri, 26 May 1995 01:11:29 GMT,
cco...@supervisor.honolulu.xerox wrote:
/... quotation of irrelevant article deleted .../
} Sorry to do this to you, but am new to internet..got this far and am a
} reasonable bg player..would seriously like a few hints on internet and more
} importantly bg. If this wastes too much time, i understand. thx
Here are a couple of hints for you.
FIBS is the First Internet Backgammon Server.
telnet fraggeL65.mdstud.chaLmers.se 4321
login as guest
Once logged in type help beginner
FIBS is a server which allows you to play backgammon against other
humans from all over the world. It allows you to watch others play
against each other, and to converse with others logged in.
Learn more about your usenet newsreader, immediately.
Learn how to put a real email address in your 'From:' field!
Learn how to delete unnecessary quoted text when you followup to a previous
article, immediately. Learn how to post an original article with an
appropriate subject.
If you can access the world wide web (do you have Netscape or Mosaic or
Lynx?) then link to my homepage (http address in my sig below) and from
there link to Turner's backgammon homepage, which is full of useful
information about backgammon on the internet.
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:: Lou Poppler <l...@mail.msen.com> | Doom an evil deed, ::
:: http://www.msen.com/~lwp | liven a mood. ::
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