Bearing off against opposition

Ellen · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 19

What would be the best strategy in the following situation?

I have entered all of my checkers into my home board and am ready start bearing off. My checkers are evenly spaced and I’ve created a prime in my home board, which is good because my opponent still has one checker on the bar. The problem is that all of the rest of my opponent’s checkers are on his one and two points. I am afraid to clear my six point, in case he rolls a double six because his home board position puts him at an advantage. I also don’t want to leave any blots in my home board because if my opponent can enter and hit me he will win the game for sure.

What can I do in this situation?

Checker · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 10

I’m sorry to say that this position mostly comes down to luck, however the game is still in your favor, provided your opponent doesn’t get out with a double six.

You have three options here. One, you can try to strip all of the points that have two or more checkers on them first, in order to bear off as many checkers as you can while maintaining the prime. This gives you the advantage of having more checkers borne off already, should your opponent reach his home board with a set of double sixes once you clear your six point. Two, you can just go for it and start bearing checkers off and leaving points open hoping that your opponent won’t have the opportunity to hit you. Third, you can try to move all of your checkers down to low points.

The third option is not that great, as it leaves points open for your opponent to enter and keeps you both on the same playing field of not having borne off any checkers.

The second option is good only if your opponent doesn’t have a roll that will allow him to hit you—so this option is entirely based on luck.

The first option is good because it gives you the advantage of having checkers borne off while your opponent is still trapped on the bar. However, once you have done this you still have to choose one of the other strategies.

The truth of the matter still stands that when you are put in this situation it all comes down to the luck of the roll—if you can’t roll the number of pips you need then you will have to make whatever plays you can and you may be forced to open points prematurely or to leave your checkers exposed.

All I can say to someone in this situation is good luck!

Rail · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 24

In this situation your chances of winning are very high, however they are not guaranteed. You have to be very careful in every move you make to protect yourself. Do the best you can to keep yourself covered and not leave any checkers exposed. Once you have borne off a checker and your opponent can re-enter from the bar and you’ve entered the straight race, you just do what you can to bear those checkers off as quickly as possible.