Do you Double? Do you Take?

[Simborg]

The position below came up in the finals of our Chicago weekly tournament. I am black and on roll. It is a match to 9 and the score is 2-2. Should I double? Should White take?





As you can see from the Snowie evaluation below, it is a double and a pass. I was pretty sure about the double, but I thought about it for a long time, because part of me thought I might not be good enough to double, and another part of me thought that if things went really well, I might get a gammon.

Woolsey's Law says that if you are not sure whether to double or not, go ahead and double. You might be making a mistake to double, but your opponent might make an even bigger mistake by dropping when he shouldn't, or taking when he shouldn't. If you don't double, there is no chance for your opponent to make a mistake.

In this case, my opponent did make a mistake. He took the cube, I gammoned him, and went on to win the match.