I’m getting better at backgammon, winning about half the time I play now. Sometimes I can even demolish xgammon pretty thoroughly.
This morning’s game was like that… until the moment that it wasn’t. I thought I was going to have it in the bag, until I didn’t.
Let’s go through it. Here’s an interesting position.
This is an interesting position, and I considered doubling at this point, though I thought White would resign if I did. White’s position isn’t great — it has three pieces on my half of the board that have to navigate a gauntlet I’ve constructed — but it’s a better position than mine; White has to move seven pieces into its home quadrant while I still have to move eight.
White did not navigate that gauntlet. White succeeded in knocking one of my pieces off the board, and I knocked White’s pieces off the board on my way back around, and now I was in a position to take my pieces off the board while White still has a piece to put back onto the board… except I have a strong position that will prevent that for several turns…
…until, with three pieces still to remove, White gets back on the board and knocks one of my pieces off the board! Will I escape? I only have to remove three more pieces. I still feel likely to win this one…
…but I get back on the board and am then immediately knocked back off. No, this is not looking good…
…but I do manage to escape! Now, to rush around to my quadrant, hopefully it won’t take many moves to do so…
We’ve arrived! And to prove that we’re here, we’ve arrived! I have to remove three pieces, White has to remove six.
And, on the eve of my final role, the final position of the board — White with four pieces to remove, me with 1, needing only to roll anything at all to remove that single piece.
This was, as the Iron Duke said of Waterloo, “a near run thing.” If it had taken another move to escape or another move to get around the board, White would have had this game, I’m sure. Suffice it to say, this victory felt earned.
Watch. After this, I’ll lose fifteen in a row. 😆