the dorbel daily

Wednesday 4 May 2011

The Big Quiz, part 8


Position ID: 2D2GASSwbxPBAA
Match ID: cAmgABAACAAE
Match score, 4-away, 4-away.

This is a pretty straightforward double and take. Blue leads 129-137 (How's the pip counting coming along?) and has a nice four point block. He also has the bar anchor commanding the outfield. His midpoint has gone, but that doesn't matter so much when you have the bar anchor. It's a solid position that might develop in several ways. Blue can extend his prime or blitz and sometimes just race and this versatility is always something to look out for. From White's point of view, she is still in the race, has a nice board of her own that will count for a lot if she hits a shot and Blue has a couple of weaknesses, viz. two blots to tidy up and a stack on his 6pt.
In the match Blue doubled and White took, then it went.............
Blue 4-2, 13/7
White 6-2, 24/22, 9/3
Blue 5-1, 10/5, 6/5 (Gnu plays 6/5, 6/1 here, but it seems a little inferior to me)
White 6-6, 22/10(2)
Blue 5-2 , 18/16*, 18/13
White 6-6, Fan
Blue 4-3.............


Position ID: tHsYA0Dw3g0iAA
Match ID: QQmuABAACAAE
Score, 4-away, 4-away.

Blue to play 4-3. What would you do with this?
We'll find out what you should do tomorrow, until then, enjoy the game!

1 comment:

ah_clem said...

Several candidates here.

1)clean up the stragglers with 16/9

2) Roll the prime forward with 8/4 7/4

3) Make the three-point with 7/3 6/3

4) Make the 2 point with 6/2 5/2

Leaving the fewest shots is not the way to decide this play - White has a blot in her homeboard so a gutsy play is called for rather than a safe play. Thus, cleaning up the stragglers probably wouldn't be correct even if it was safer than a gutsier play. The thing is, 16/9 leaves 17 shots, one more than making the four point and 7 more than making the three, assuming I counted right. So, it's not safe at all. We should make another homeboard point. But which one?

The two point is weak, and can't work with the 8 to make a full prime, so I'm going to reject that, even though it gives better placement of spares. The four point is better than the three, but the combination of extra shots and the value of an extra point (we give up a point to make the four, we keep all of our points to make the three) that can be extended into a full prime tips the balance in favor of making the three. Plus we unstack the 6 instead of abandoning the 8.

So I make the three point here. 7/3 6/3.