2023 - Position 91

XGID=bDDBBB------ba----bbbbbA--:2:1:1:00:3:5:0:11:10

Match Play. Blue trails 3-5 to 11. Should Blue redouble to 8? If redoubled, should White take?

My biggest blunder this year! I was White against Romolo Mudu in the quarter-final of the Consolation at the London Open.

I dropped the redouble, not wanting to lose the match on this game if Blue rolled a six.

Muddy thinking. Blue is not favourite to escape his checker and may well leave a home board blot next turn. With the cube on 8 gammons are irrelevant for both players and Blue only wins 55% of the time – a trivially easy take for White and in fact no double from Blue. Blue does much better to play on for a gammon with the cube on 4, which is enough to win the match for him.

A shocking pass and one I am not proud of!!

For money this would be redouble and take because now Blue gets full value from his gammons.