| Books |
“The Backgammon Book”
Perhaps the best-selling backgammon book ever, Jacoby and Crawford’s The Backgammon Book set the standard for good backgammon writing in 1970. This was the start of a decade that saw huge growth in the popularity of backgammon around the world, and Jacoby and Crawford were two of the leading minds in the game.
The advice the authors give is generally sound. But, when reading any backgammon book from the “old days” (i.e., any time in the last century), it is a good idea to have access to computer rollouts. That way when the authors slip up — and they do — you won’t learn the wrong lesson.
We have learned a lot about backgammon since 1970. And there were no bots in those days for authors to check their work — they were flying without a net. Backgammon is a hard game and mistakes are inevitable.
What follows is a list of all the positions discussed by Jacoby and Crawford in The Backgammon Book. The positions are presented in the same order as in the book to make it easy to follow along as you read.
What would you do in each position? Decide on your play, then click on the board for that position to see the authors’ commentary and a rollout of the top plays.
Page 64
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White to play 6-6. |
Page 65
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White to play 5-5. |
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White to play 4-4. |
Page 66
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White to play 3-3. |
Page 67
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White to play 2-2. |
Page 68
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White to play 1-1. |
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White to play 6-5. |
Page 69
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White to play 6-4. |
Page 70
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 71
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White to play 6-2. |
Page 72
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White to play 6-1. |
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White to play 5-4. |
Page 73
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White to play 5-3. |
Page 74
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White to play 5-2. |
Page 75
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White to play 5-1. |
Page 76
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 4-2. |
Page 77
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White to play 4-1. |
Page 78
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 3-1. |
Page 79
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 81
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White to play 6-6. |
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 2-2. |
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White to play 5-4. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 3-2. |
Page 82
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 6-4. |
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 6-2. |
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White to play 6-1. |
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White to play 5-4. |
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White to play 5-3. |
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White to play 5-2. |
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White to play 5-1. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 4-2. |
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White to play 4-1. |
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 3-1. |
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 84
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White to play 5-5. |
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 6-4. |
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 5-3. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 2-1. |
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White to play 6-2. |
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White to play 5-2. |
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White to play 3-1. |
Page 85
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White to play 4-4. |
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 2-2. |
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White to play 6-4. |
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 6-2. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 3-2. |
Page 90
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 6-1. |
Page 95
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White to play 5-3. |
Page 97
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White to play 4-2. |
Page 99
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White to play 5-5. |
Page 100
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White to play 5-5. |
Page 101
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 102
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White to play 5-3. |
Page 104
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White to play 5-1. |
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 105
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White to play 6-2. |
Page 106
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White to play 3-2. |
Page 115
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Should White double? |
Page 116
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Should White redouble? |
Page 120
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Should White double? |
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Should White redouble? |
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Should White double? |
Page 123
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White to play 5-5. |
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 2-2. |
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White to play 1-1. |
Page 124
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White to play 6-6. |
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White to play 5-5. |
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White to play 4-4. |
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 2-2. |
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White to play 1-1. |
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 6-4. |
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 6-2. |
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White to play 6-1. |
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White to play 5-4. |
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White to play 5-3. |
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White to play 5-2. |
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White to play 5-1. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 4-2. |
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White to play 4-1. |
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 3-1. |
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 127
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Should White double? |
Page 128
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White to play 6-2. |
Page 129
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 131
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White to play 3-3. |
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White to play 2-2. |
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White to play 1-1. |
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 5-3. |
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White to play 6-3. |
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White to play 4-3. |
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 4-1. |
Page 132
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White to play 4-1. |
Page 134
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White to play 3-2. |
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 137
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White to play 1-1. |
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White to play 1-1. |
Page 138
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White to play 5-4. |
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White to play 5-1. |
Page 140
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 141
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 142
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White to play 2-2. |
Page 143
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White to play 6-4. |
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 6-4. |
Page 145
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White to play 6-3. |
Page 146
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White to play 6-1. |
Page 147
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White to play 6-1. |
Page 152
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White to play 6-5. |
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 153
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 154
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Should Black double? |
Page 155
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White to play 5-2. |
Page 156
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Black to play 6-2. |
Page 157
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Black to play 4-3. |
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Black to play 4-3. |
Page 158
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White to play 5-3. |
Page 160
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White to play 2-1. |
Page 161
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White to play 5-4. |
Page 162
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White to play 5-4. |
Page 165
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White to play 5-2. |
Page 166
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White to play 4-1. |
Page 168
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White to play 5-3. |
Page 169
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White to play 3-1. |
Page 170
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White to play 5-4. |
Page 172
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White to play 6-4. |
Page 173
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White to play 6-1. |
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White to play 6-1. |