Your Move E-Book

Robert Hopkins

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

When you first start playing backgammon it would be an advantage to have a book nearby which covered all of the basics and more to advance your game as quickly as possible.

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

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

It would be useful to offer many positions that could be scored, to help assess the reader's  strengths and weaknesses and to help develop an understanding of what makes a good move and why.

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. 

Leseprobe

Robert Hopkins

Your Move

For checker movers everywhere.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

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;

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.