The 6-4 play in our first "Dallas Backgammon League" posting
is, to me, very interesting. I am happy to say that I made the right
play - with very little thought, or as Bob Glass, one of the great
tournament players from the west coast would say, with no
thought at all.
This is a standing joke between Bob and me: Bob claims that he
and I are the only two players in backgammon (that he knows, and
he knows a lot) that never think.
The reason I am taking the time to discuss this position is
primarily to make the case for playing backgammon by pattern
recognition and algorithms.
As we are expanding our tournament participation in the Dallas
area, we may meet some new and less experienced players.
In my view, backgammon is the greatest of all games, and is
exhilaratingly enjoyable when played with my approach. The
discussion presented with this position, while interesting and
cogent, is nevertheless somewhat intimidating.
My reason is much simpler and gets the same result - the
correct play.
I say, fight a prime with a good board, and fight a good board
(in this case, a 5 point board) with a prime - one of my
algorithms. I define an algorithm as a rule that allows me to
make the correct decision.
As we welcome new players to our Wednesday night
tournament, I will be happy to lend my knowledge and
experience gained over thirty years of competition to help
shortcut their learning curve and hopefully make an already
great game even more enjoyable.
Malcolm Davis
