Chuck Bower: 24/22, 13/9.Now looks like a good time to bring builders into place, unstackingthe midpoint. 13/9 is a good start. Although 13/11 continuesalong those lines, I'm going with 24/22. That move pre-emptivelycounters White's primebuilding rolls, particularly reducing White'schances of using his 8-point as builders for his barpoint.
Doug Doub: 13/11, 13/9.
The biggest point on the board right now is our barpoint. Playing 8-4 would push a man beyond that key point, so 13-9 issurely a better way of playing the four. Having made that play, 13-11 addsa great deal of value at very little risk.
At the cost of a duplicated 6-4 to be hit, we add 64,42, and 41 to make ourbar point, 2's to make our 8pt and 3's to make our 9pt. Additionally wegive ourselves more return shots if White hits us on either our 8pt or 9pt.
There is little urgency to escape right away. If we are able to make aprime with three men behind it, we will have a crushing advantage.
George Klitsas: 13/11, 13/9.
Any solution involving 8/4 (and, at some extend, 6/4 [13/9 6/4 dups 61 and 62 for Blue] ), is the mark of the inexperienced player. Blue's first priority is to make his bar point, not the two or the three point and not to lift his outfield blots. If the four is 13/9, as it clearly seems, the two must definitely be 13/11 [duplicating one of White's best rolls, namely 64] and not 24/22, where Blue will be subject to distracting hits by White. After my solution (13/11 13/9), Blue will have a great chance of making his bar point and practically lock the game.
Mary Lee Pinkney: 24/22, 8/4.
Since White is threatening to make a 5-point prime and I am also ahead in the race, I think it is best to move to the edge of White's prime with 24/22.
I would also move 8/4 with the 4. I don't want a number of blots spread out for White to pick up at this point in time. The cube has been turned so gammons count.
Snowie: 24/22, 13/9.
I want to do two things -- escape my back checker and extend myblockade. My play worke optimally on both of these goals.
Marty Storer: 13/11, 13/9.
I hate 8/4, so 13/9 would be my 4. Then 24/22 lookslike misplacing priorities: White's problem is the three stacked backcheckers, so Blue shouldn't give White opportunities to attack. Between13/11 and 6/4, I definitely like 13/11. Blue's bar point is the keypoint in this position, and 13/11 duplicates White's 64 as well asplaying thematically against White's back checkers.
Bob Stringer: 24/22, 8/4.
My main concern right now is escaping with my last checker and notgetting hit unnecessarily. 24/22 is worth trying while White ispreoccupied with unstacking my ace point. It gives me a 4 or a 6to escape and is reasonably safe right now, but won't be if I waitfor White to bring more builders into the vicinity. Although Idon't like 8/4, since I prefer to leave it there so I can make my8 point, I like 13/9 even less, since it gives White too manyindirect shots. I dislike the alternatives for the same reason.13/11, 8/4 doesn't leave a bunch of indirect shots, but 8/4 isn'tgood; it's simply a move that allows me also to play 24/22. If I'mgoing to leave the checker on White's ace point, then there's noreason to give up on making my 8 point.
Casper van der Tak: 13/11, 13/9.
Develop some builders to make the bar; if we succeed, White's game collapses completely whether he makes a counter-prime or not. Stepping up 24/22 is not Blue's priority and gives White the option to attack and deploy the checkers on the ace and is therefore not indicated; 24/18 is outright silly (White will hit and activate his back checkers, and has many more hitting numbers), any play involving 8/4 makes me puke, and 13/9 6/4 does not focus strongly enough on the bar-point.
13/9 6/4 is the only real alternative in my eyes for 13/9 13/11, but 13/9 13/11 simply goes more strongly after the bar-point and the additional hitting numbers 64 are duplicated.
Kit Woolsey: 13/9, 6/4.
Advancing the back checker doesn't seem like the right idea. I wantto concentrate on hemming in White's three back checkers. If I canextend my blockade, my back checker will take care of itself. Thebiggest play is 13/11, 13/9, but that does leave a lot of blots.My play gives me plenty of point-making numbers and leaves one fewer blotin case of disaster.
Chris Yep: 13/9, 6/4.
Though Blue is way ahead in the race, he still has a timing advantage due to having 1 man back compared to White's 3 men back. I believe Blue can wait to escape his back man and instead concentrate on lengthening his prime. A 4-prime or 5-prime will be very strong against 3 enemy checkers. I like 13/9 6/4. It gives White 6 shots (6-2, 6-1, 5-2) at 2 outfield blots, but slots the 8 and 9 points and gives Blue 4 builders for the 3 point. 24/22 13/9 is similar (White can hit with 5s, but only at significant cost), but I prefer getting another builder for the 3 point (via 6/4) and trying to escape the back man later. 24/22 8/4 and 13/11 8/4 give up hope of getting the 8 point, costly since Blue currently has weak outfield structure. 13/11 13/9 goes all out to develop the prime from the back, but fails to develop another builder for the 3 point and is too loose (since it leaves 3 outfield blots) in my opinion. Overall I believe 13/9 6/4 to be the most balanced move.
Summary:Just what is the proper blend of offense and defense here?The popular choice was to flood the outer board and pay off to the variousindirect shots in order to maximize the chances of making the bar point.This is reasonable, but Blue does lose a lot if White hits one of thoseindirect shots, so it isn't clear that the rewards are sufficient tocompensate for the risks.
