Chuck Bower: 22/15.When playing against the 18-point anchor, running is moreof an option than the pipcount might indicate. Opp'spotential upcoming timing trouble means a few pips caneasily be made up with an efficient bearin, compared tocrunching rolls for the holder. 24/21 and 22/18 may seemgood as single dice, but they don't go well together, andeither alone leaves a less than ideal second die. Dumpingin the homeboard doesn't seem right. 13/6 is OK but I'drather get a back checker moving. That leaves 22/15.
Doug Doub: 24/21, 8/4.
Lots of reasonable choices and none of them veryattractive. It is not very useful to 'resplit' our back men, but otherchoices either add to our stack on the 6pt, leave another direct shot, orput two blots in our board. I suppose 22-15 is not too bad, but it does notseem to accomplish all that much even if we are missed. At least my movestarts a good point in our board, while being only moderately risky on theother side of the board.
Neil Kazaross: 13/6.
Many choices here. The "obvious" 22/15 doesn't accomplish very much andleaves shots and leaves the rear checker alone without a race lead. The barslot 22/18, 8/5 is possible but doesn't attack any stripped points andleaves an inner board blot vulnerable if a return shot is hit. This is my2nd choice. So it looks like we should play from or midpoint and the"beginner play" of 13/6 looks better than play which leaves an outerboardblot. I'll keep my rear checkers where they are and play 13/6.
George Klitsas: 24/21, 8/4.
I think that 24/21 is mandatory. Blue needs to control the outfield, where otherwise White would gleefully put his checkers with most of his rolls. At the same time, Blue slots an advanced anchor. With the four, I slightly prefer 8/4 over 13/9.
Snowie: 13/6.
Running a back checker doesn't accomplish mush when it works, and whenit doesn't work it is bad. A lot could be happening quickly as Whitetries to build up his board, so I'm not too happy about stripping theeight point and leaving an inner board blot. The simple 13/6 looksfine. It brings a new checker into position for board-building withoutupsetting anything.
Marty Storer: 22/15.
Making the 22, 21 or 18 point would have been nice, butBlue must do his best with his crummy 43. If he could make someconcrete forward improvement, he could leave the back checkerswhere they are, hoping to anchor next time and playing againstsuch rolls as 63 and 54. Unfortunately he can't really improveon his side of the board. All attempts to do so (an example is22/18 8/5) are tactically suspect. Running seems to be the bestof a bad choice. The race is close, and escaping one checker isvery desirable.
Bob Stringer: 13/6.
I'd like to start a point in my inner board, except that I have toplay both dice. I really don't like coming out to the bar point,since that invites him to hit and get something going.Fortunately, I don't have to strip the midpoint to play it safe,and so that's what I'll do.
Kit Woolsey: 24/21, 8/4.
I would like to make some advanced anchor to counter White's advancedanchor, and this looks like the best shot. Advancing to the 21 pointmakes it more
Chris Yep: 24/21, 8/4.
The race is close, but White has an advanced anchor. If Blue doesn't make an advanced anchor himself, he will have a timing problem. The boards are roughly equal (each side has a 2-point board), so I like trying for an advanced anchor this move. Several moves are possible, but I prefer 24/21 8/4. 24/21 slots both the 22 point and 21 point (so that if White hits loose, Blue can make an advanced anchor from the bar). With the 4, Blue slots the best available inner board point. 13/9 is also good, since it's flexible and doesn't strip the 8 point, but leaving a 3rd blot is a little loose in my opinion.
Summary: It isn't at all obvious just where Blue should be makinghis stand with his back checkers. Each approach has some flaws, and thepanel was very divided on this point.
