An Important Backgammon Lesson

Take a look at the two positions below. In the first position, White won the opening roll with a 4-3 and brought two checkers down, and then Black rolled 2-1. 

In the second position, White won the opening roll with 4-2 and made his 4 point, and then Black rolled 2-1. 

After you decide, scroll down and we’ll discuss the right play and why.


Position 1

In position 1, the right play is 13/11, 6/5 Split the back checkers and bring a checker down from the midpoint. 

In position 2, the right play is 24/23, 13/11. Bring a checker down from the midpoint and slot your 5 point. 

These are two very different plays, and it would be a very big mistake if you didn’t make these plays. It is simple to put these plays into a computer program such as Snowie and GNUBG and see what the right play is, but it is more important to know WHY each of these plays is right in each situation. 

There are two major keys to determining the right play, and understand these keys will help you remember which play is right, and it will help you in similar situations when you have a choice to make between slotting and splitting. 

Generally, in the early game, the right play is to split your back checkers. This is something you should often try to do early because it serves two purposes: 1) it puts more pressure on your opponent if he leaves blots in his outer board, and 2) it is easier for you to escape your back checkers when they are split. So as a general rule, early in the game, if you have a 1 or 2 or even a 3 to play that does not hit or make a point elsewhere, you probably are right to split your back checkers. 

In position 1, however, it is a mistake to split because of White’s opening roll. Because White brought two checkers down from his midpoint, he has quite a bit of “ammunition” to make points in his inner board, and if you split, one or more of those points could be the 1 or 2 point which immediately puts you on the bar and at a major disadvantage.   So when you opponent has a lot of ammunition looking at you, that is the time not to split. So if you are not going to split the back checkers, you basically have two other choices….keep the checker going from the midpoint, or slot your 5 point. 

There are several reasons why slotting your 5 point is better. First, when you start the game with 5 checkers on the 5 point, one of your goals is to get checkers off of that point so that you have more flexibility. Second, if you slot your 5 point and you don’t get hit, you are very likely to make the 5 point on your next roll, and the 5 point is THE MOST IMPORTANT point to make early in the game. And third, most of the rolls that hit your 5 point are also useful on the other side of the board, so you have “duplicated” his use of the 4. 

In the second position, where White has made his 4 point on the opening roll, it is right to split your back checkers. White does not have a lot of ammunition to make more points in his inner board, but there is another, very important reason why the split is right. Once White takes a checker off of his 8 point to make the 4 point, he now only has 2 checkers on his 8 point. (The point is “stripped”.) 

Think about what White’s strategy is going forward. Once he has made his 4 point, the next two most important points he wants to make are his 5 point and 7 point (called the bar point). If he rolls a 3-1 to make the 5 point, or a 6-1 to make the bar point, he would have to use one of the checkers on the 8 point, leaving 1 checker (a blot) on the 8 point. If you don’t split your back checkers, he can do this easily, as you would have no direct shot at the 8 point, but if you split your back checkers, you would have a direct 6-away shot at the 8 point. 

So as a general rule, whenever your opponent has only 2 checkers on his 8 point, you should split your back checkers. When he has 4, you definitely should not, and when he has 3, then it depends on where the rest of your and his checkers are, but generally, it is right to split. 

I believe this lesson illustrates one of the most important things you can learn in backgammon. It’s not enough to find out what the right play is…find out WHY it is the right play. If you understand the reasoning, you will make the right plays more often in the future, and you will understand the game better as well.