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This article originally appeared in the March 2000 issue of GammOnLine. Thank you to Kit Woolsey for his kind permission to reproduce it here. |
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Backgames can be very interesting. Unfortunately, we don't get to see
full-fledged backgames in action very often in serious play. The backgame
is usually a last resort, and is generally avoided by the expert player if
at all possible. It is usually too easy for a competent opponent to ruin
the timing of ones backgame.
I recently played the following game on GamesGrid. It was a very long and complex backgame, which involved just about all the problems which can occur when playing or defending against a backgame. I thought it would be an intersting game to annotate so the readers can see what an expert is thinking about when playing a backgame. I make no claim that either my plays or my analyses are accurate. These positions are extremely difficult, and the proper approach is often very unclear. Bots usually won't help us in these positions, for as well as the bots handle most ordinary positions they often do not understand the timing considerations or what the proper goals are for tricky backgames. We are on our own. Click HERE to start the game. Click HERE for a list of the moves. |
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