Cross-Overs, Distribution, and Shot Possibilities

Most everyone agrees that the most important consideration in any race is the pip count. You simply add up the number of pips for each player, and that is the total number of points on the die that have to be rolled to get all the checkers off. In the position above, if you add up all of white’s pips, he has 55, and if you add up all of black’s, he has 68. So white is leading by 13 pips, and that’s a lot. It’s clearly a double, in most situations.

But in this situation, it’s not a double because of distribution. And the reason it’s not a double is because it’s such and easy take, and Black gains a huge advantage if he is holding the cube and things go well for black.

Why should black take? Most people will also agree that when a player is down 13 pips in a race where the leader’s pip count is 55, it’s a huge drop. But as I stated early, pip count is the most important consideration, but not the only one.

Other important considerations are the odds of getting a shot and the distribution of the checkers. In Position 1, white is going to have to roll at least 2 or 3 rolls before he can start taking checkers off, and because all of his checkers are bunched up on the lower points, there is likely to be a miss or two along the way.

Backgammon Cross-Over Movement

In Position 1, the theory of “cross-overs” comes into play. A cross-over is a movement from one of the 4 quadrants of the board to the other. Black needs two crossovers to get his checkers into his inner board and be able to take off checkers. Also, in order to get those checkers into his inner board, he only needs to roll 4 pips on the die.

White, on the other hand, needs 3 cross-overs, and needs a total of 17 pips to accomplish that. The bottom line is that the distribution of checkers in Position 1 is such that Black has a clear take and should not drop the cube. In a money game, assuming no gammons, the player being cubed needs to win over 25 percent of the time to come out ahead taking the cube. As you can see from the Snowie evaluation below, Black wins 40 percent of the time.

It’s also important to note that Black wins 40 percent of the time WITH WHITE HOLDING THE CUBE. If Black is holding the cube, that means that if things go well for white he cannot double and end the game, and that means that black would still have a chance to roll some doubles and turn it around. It also means that if things go a little better for black right away, holding the cube he would have the ability to double and either end the game or raise the stakes.