2024 - Position 85

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Match Play. Red leads 2-1 to 7. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

Red’s position looks more threatening that it is. Red has only 20 numbers to escape his rear checker and some of the other sixteen, e.g. 41, expose a blot in Red’s home board.

Even if Red does escape, White has reasonable hitting chances and winning. The position is very volatile, so redoubling is clearly correct. White has a comfortable take, winning 40% of the time, partly because he will have some very powerful redoubles to 8.