2021 - Position 190

XGID=aBB-BaBB----cC-b-c-e---AA-:0:0:1:31:3:2:0:5:10

Match Play. Red leads 3-2 to 5. How should Red play 31?

To quote Joe Sylvester (former world number one), “When on offence play offence, when on defence play defence”.

A gammon here is precisely what Red wants and so he should play 13/10, 7/6.

23/22, 13/10 is a reasonable play but I always adhere to Joe’s principle when I can.