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Chuck Bower wrote:
> Maybe we should hold a contest: find positions from SERIOUS writings
> which make the worst recommendations! JF level-7 evaluation says
> Tremaine's play is worse than yours by 0.6 cubeless equity!!
Mr. Bower throws down the gauntlet, and the challenge is accepted.
Without further ado, herewith my nominee:
"Some self-appointed 'new authorities' have evolved a strange hybrid
which they call 'modern' Backgammon. There is no such thing - unless
'modern' Backgammon is another name for bad Backgammon... The cause of
the present confusion is ... the development of two minor conventions -
The Double, and Chouette. The former, however, is merely a new way of
scoring ... neither development in any way affects the fundamental
principles of the game."
"... there is no gainsaying that the Double [doubling cube] does add
excitement, and a certain gambling color. If you want to gamble, by all
means play the Double; if you are more interested in the strategy of the
game, omit it.
"... There is a good deal of skill involved - unbeknown to many of
its admirers - in manipulating the Double ...
"... if two perfect players engaged in a match, there would never be
an accepted double... a correct double is made only when definitely ahead,
and a correct acceptance... only when the accepter knows he is not
definitely behind.
"Consequently, if every double were perfect, none would be accepted ...
We must conclude that accepted doubles can only be the result of imperfect
play...
"The author's chief objection to the double is ... its only reason
d'etre is the incompetent play of those who use it. For there can be no
final difference of opinion on the value of position ... two expert players
will never disagree.
"Perhaps the most important thing to remember about the Double is that
the the less it is used the better."
--- "Vanity Fair's Backgammon to Win", Georges Mabardi & Clare Luce,
c1930,1958,1974; Simon and Schuster.
One wonders how the authors fared playing propositions.
The envelope, please ...
Paul Tanenbaum
P.S. This book also has a delightful chapter regarding etiquette, which
pays the price of admission. There, vividly and hilariously, the authors
portray the various characters who populate the board's environs.
Backgammon theory may have evolved during the last 60 years, but human
nature evidently has not. Excerpts:
"Even worse than the chortler and the grouser, is the coaxer, that
pathetic and heart-breaking wooer of Fate, who announces to his dice box
before every throw what sweet sights he would like to see issue from it...
holding the box between his two hands in a supplicating and prayerful
fashion: 'Double-sixes, oh for a pair of double-sixes!'
"The year 1930 was a memorable one... it saw a crash in the stock
market, the sprightly advent of Tom Thumb Golf, and the sudden vogue for
the ancient ... game of Backgammon .... Some might find in... this latter
fad a combination of the others... a re-enactment of the market crash, with
its... dizzy turns of fortune. In addition to this heady wine of chance it
offers the same mental hazards and imaginative possibilities as Miniature
Golf."
They just don't write 'em like that nowadays, more's the pity.
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