As beginners, one of the mantras we always say when playing backgammon is "When in doubt, hit!" For the most part, this can be very solid advice, but there are circumstances in which hitting can be very dangerous. One of the reoccurring situations happens to be with the ace point. Very often, it may seem that a split backgame with a lone checker on the ace point looks like an easy hit, but looks can be deceiving.
The following board can be run on GnuBG with the following parameters:
Match ID: cInuAAAAAAAA
Position ID: 4HPwYCDgc+QFIA
In the above situation, it's 7-off, 7-off (0-0 in a match to 7). Here's the current situation:
1. We're ahead in the race 155-166. A small lead, but still one to be noted.
2. We have a blot that has a direct hit potential on the 14 point, and one on the 11 point, although that one is not as big of a worry.
3. Red has made the bar point, but still has an additional checker back.
We've rolled 5-3. We have a few options with this roll:
1. 8/3, 6/3. This helps fill in our board, but it's somewhat detached. In addition, red has the bar point made, and we're somewhat vulnerable with the 14 point, which we aren't fixing at all with this roll. Turns out we give up over a tenth of a game point (-0.105) by playing this move.
2. 14/11, 6/1*. This is an improvement. We're doing something about both blots, and while the 11-point isn't necessarily the best place to put two checkers, it does keep us safe and advance us forward. Without question, 14/11 is the correct move with the 3. That leaves us with a 5 to move. By hitting the ace point, we're forcing red to only use half of his roll, and his board doesn't really set up too well for using half of his roll. Is this the best use of the 5 though?
3. 14/11, 13/8. It turns out that when we hit the ace point, we're actually giving up -0.043. There are a few reasons for this. For starters, we don't really have the possibility of making red dance. In addition, we're leaving an open blot in our home base, which will cost us the lead in the race if red rolls a single. By playing 13/8, we are unstacking from the 13 point, and giving us another builder (even if it's an unoriginal one) to start filling in home.
Here's the full rollout of the top 5 decisions. There are a couple of creative options that I rolled out as well, but both of those ended up in the same neighborhood as making the 3-point.
Always remember why you're hitting someone, and think about all the situations that could come back to haunt you. In this case, bringing the checker down to the 8 point, while conservative, will set you up for a successful endgame.