2024 - Position 42

XGID=-aa-B-D-D---bC---cbd---bB-:0:0:1:32:0:0:0:7:10

Match Play. 0-0 to 7. How should Red play 32?

White has a blitzing structure so Red must take care. 24/22, 24/21 would be very wrong. White also has split back checkers so 13/10 is riskier than normal and it strips the mid-point.

The correct idea is to play 24/21, getting a rear checker moving, but then play 6/4 with the 2. This limits Red’s risk whilst unstacking the overloaded 6-pt. Any other move at least an error.

Once you understand the structure of the position the play is relatively easy to find but it is still a non-trivial problem.