Containment

The Monday Night Football Fatality   Gaby Horowitz and Dr. Bruce Roman, 1982 From Backgammon Times, Volume 2, Number 4, Fall 1982. Because of Gaby's exhausting traveling schedule and our various business pursuits, we rarely have the opportunity to participate in the weekly tournament at the Cavendish West in Los Angeles. The tournament is well run by Ricky Sax and provides a good return for successful competitors. Gaby did play in a recent tournament and was matched against one of his former students. The student exhibited sound checker movement and cube action, but Gaby rolled well, and commanded a 6–1 lead (match to 11) when the position in Diagram 1 was reached; the student (White) was to play 3-1. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24     12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Diagram 1. White to play 3-1. Gaby was certain that his former student knew precisely how to handle this position; the applicable principle had been covered extensively in Gaby's serminar on "Score Reversal in Match Play." But his opponent moved 2/1*, 12/9 (Diagram 2), a poor choice. Now all of Black's aces play and he has no immediate losing numbers. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24     12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Diagram 2. After 2/1*, 12/9. Gaby rolled a 3-1 from the bar and White replied 1-1! Black was eventually closed out but won the game in the race. White never established a sufficient advantage to warrant a redouble. Afterwards, Gaby could not resist reminding his former student of the principle that he had failed to apply: let your opponent's bad numbers play. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24     12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Diagram 3. After 8/7, 12/9. Had White played his 3-1 correctly (8/7, 12/9), Black's subsequent 3-1 would have resulted in the position illustrated in Diagram 4. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24     12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Diagram 4. Diagram 3 after Black's subsequent 3-1. White could have immediately redoubled to 4. Black would not take the redouble since he was leading in the match 6–1. There are many players, however, who would contrive "plausible" explanations and accept the redouble. This would give White the opportunity to even the score with a single victory. Playing the ace as 8/7 guarantees that White will have an additional man to hunt the escaped checker from the 1-point should Black roll the necessary 6. This, of course, enhances White's chances of saving the gammon. In the event Black fails to roll the 6, the checker on the bar point becomes either the last building block for a full prime or an attacker for hitting loose on the 1-point (the less desirable alternative). The bewildered student stared at Gaby. He could recall the material that Gaby had just reviewed for him. He replied, "You taught us to save the gammon first and then try to win. I did exactly what you taught. It was the lecture on minimizing losses. I have it all in my notes. I can show you." "What about the lecture on 'Score Reversal in Match Play'?" Gaby inquired. "That's only one I didn't attend. It was on a Monday and I was watching an important football game instead." Winning is always preferable to losing. However, we hope that our opponents are playing well, especially if they are former students. The mixed emotions showing on his face, Gaby was approached by the tournament director. "Did you lose?" she asked. "In a way, yes," replied Gaby. More articles by Gaby Horowitz More articles by Bruce Roman More articles on containment   Return to:  Backgammon Galore