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- <TITLE>Key Points On The Board</TITLE>
- <FONT Face="arial">
-
- <CENTER><H1>Key Points On The Board</H1></CENTER>
- <br>
-
- <center><h3>The Home Board</h3></center>
- <p>
- Your home board consists of your last six points, in the bottom right
- corner of the backgammon board. You must move all your chequers here
- before you can begin to bear off.</p>
-
- <center><board width=400 height=200 displayx=130 displayy=45% Points="00W2,05B5,07B3,11W5,12B5,16W3,18W5,23B2" style="rpahsAP">
- </center>
- It is particularly important to build in these points as early as
- possible, to block in your opponent's runners on his 24 point.
- In order of importance, try to build on the 5,7 and 4 points. The 7
- point is also known as the bar point.
- <center><h3>The Bar</h3></center>
- <p>
- When chequers are captured they are removed from the board and placed
- on the bar. If you have a chequer on the bar you have to play it first. If your
- opponent has blocked you in then you lose your move.
- <br>
- At some stage in every game, you will probably have to play at least one
- counter off the bar. In the early stages of the game this should be easy,
- but later on pieces can be trapped for some time, with disastrous consequences.
- </p>
-
- <p>The odds against re-entering a counter from the bar depend entirely on how
- many points your opponent controls in his inner board. If he controls only one
- or two points, you will re-enter very quickly, but if he has five points you
- will have great difficulty playing.</p>
-
- <p>
- The tables below show the probabilities for entering first one counter off the bar,
- and then two, depending on how many points are controlled by your opponent.
- It is far more difficult to enter two counters than just one. For example,
- with two counters on the bar and 5 points held by your opponent, you have only a
- 3% chance of playing both!</p>
- <img src="barprob.jpg" alt="Probability" width=265 height=109>
- </center><hr>
- <a href=openings.htm>Opening Moves</a> <a href=moving.htm>Probability of Moving</a>
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