Doubling Cube in Match Play | Position Analysis

The double cube can be extremely complicated in match play. Most of us who play at the higher levels in tournaments started out as money players, and we tend to look at cube situations in terms of money games and then try to adjust for the match score and match situation.

The position below came up in the Las Vegas ABT event this year. Perry Gartner, one of the top players in the game, was White, and on roll. He was losing 1-2 in a match to 11, and he had to decide whether or not to cube. What do you think he should do?

After you decide whether or not you would cube, then pretend you are Black and decide what you would do if you were cubed?

The correct answer is that White should cube, and Black should take. In the actual match, Perry did cube, and his opponent dropped! If you are not sure about whether or not to cube, according to the great teachings of Kit Woolsey, you should double, as only then can your opponent make a mistake. In this case, it was a big one. As you can see in Figure 2, according to the Snowie evaluation, it is clearly right to double, but it is a major blunder to drop this cube.

I find it interesting that for money, White does not have a double in this situation, though it is close.

I think the biggest lesson here is that it pays to be aggressive with the cube…you might get a drop, but even if you don’t when you are winning, press the advantage.

Note: Phil Simborg is a backgammon teaching professional. Phil lives in Chicago and have been giving lessons for over 20 years. He can be reached at psimborg@sbcglobal.net.