They don't come any tougher than this one!

[Simborg]

This is a play that several of the top players in the world did not get correctly, but Snowie did.

It is a match to 5, and black leads 4-2 Crawford. Black must play 5-2. What is your play?






The correct play is to break your prime and hit white off the 2 point. This is a very complicated play designed to ruin white's timing. At this score, black doesn't care if he wins or loses a gammon, so the only thing that matters is what is the best odds of winning the game. White has excellent timing, so black wants to get hit and destroy white's timing.

[giannisp]

Finally I got it right too. These kind of games , that you need to ruin your oponnents timing are tough decisions for me , i I think I took my lesson from a previous situation, some posts before. Thogh I have a question here. If you have the chance to cover and finally play against a oponnents two-points in your board , would this be ok for you? Or keep leaving shots to TOTALLY mess things up? Would you be happy against a 1-3 point back game???

[puzzle_t0rico]

LOL
If you had not said that the top players did not get correctly I would have moved 13-11/13-8 but this comment made me think that it was not the best move.
Then I saw the very good timing from white since he is not totally primed and the sixes help him to move and maybe build a good board while black overloads his 6 or 5 points and probably gets hitted. So the idea of hitting the 2pt came instantly but I did not move the good man. Should I hit with the 2 or with the 5? That is the really though decision to take. Well there is only 1% of difference but it exists.
Obviously I took the bad one, hit with the 5 (7-2) and move 13-11
These are the kind of positions that help me to demonstrate my pals that BG is not only luck but also skill.
_________________
If the brain were simple enough to be understood, we would be too stupid to understand it.

[giannisp]

I just saw that Snowie actually hits with the 2. This is VERY strange. Ok we need better timing. But in order to do this do we need to ruin our board in this extend?? Previously when I said i had this right I meant i would also hit but from my bar point , not from the 4-point. What is going on here??

[Simborg]

In answer to the first question, when your opponent has a 2-point back game, I am never completely satisfied playing against it unless his timing or his inner board is ruined. As long as he has decent timing, I try to look for a way to destroy that timing. Sometimes the risk is too great, especially if his inner board is strong (he has the 6-5-4 points for example), but if the board has holes in it and it is likely that I can get back around if I am hit, I try to reduce his timing. Often it depends on the score, if it is a match, and the position of the cube. It depends a lot on just how important it is for me to try to win gammons. Well-timed back games win often, but get gammoned often, so you have to weigh the risks of each situation.

In answer to the other post by giannisp about ruining our board to hit, I know it seems like a very unusual and drastic play. Most top players did not see the play either, but once they did, and they saw that is what Snowie recommended, they see the beauty of the play. You are not completely destroying your board...you keep a 4-prime and likely will remake a 5 or 6 prime later while white scatters blots all over the board or crashes his board.

[puzzle_t0rico]

I am glad that giannisp thought also to hit using the 5 and not the 2.
Could someone tell us why hitting with the 2 is better?
Thanks
_________________
If the brain were simple enough to be understood, we would be too stupid to understand it.

[Simborg]

Hitting off the two is better because of the timing of the entire game. Black needs to get hit several times and have many, many rolls before this game ends. His goal is to see that he still has 3 to 5 or more of white's checkers trapped in his inner board, but only if white has also been forced to give up his 5 and 6 points in his inner board and has moved most of his checkers to the 4, 3, 2, and 1 points. It would even be stronger if white has to give up his 4 point.

If your opponent has a 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 2-4, or 3-4 back game, you can be pretty sure that you will eventually give him a shot, or even a double shot, before you are done bearing off. That shot will not hurt you very much if white's board is destroyed. Destroyed means he has given up his higher points. If that happens, not only will you still win the game if you get hit, but you probably will still win a gammon.

[giannisp]

I begin to understand these situations but , to be honest I have never seen anyone in real life to make such moves. In my opinion only a really high player would make this move (with confidence) over this board.