From the experience of earlier in the match I noticed he was not a fast player. He was not a slow player but his physical handling of a checker and a clock was rather slow. He sometimes spend 1-2 seconds (i.e. 13-14 sec) even when he plays automatically. It was also clear that he didn't have much experience of the clock usage. (He told me he was from Venezuela and came US twice for the tournament and that affected my thought too. I assume they don't have a big regular meeting in Venezuela.) I also noticed that the board is quite bouncy and dice can be spinning forever. Because of that, sometimes more than 1 sec (13 sec) will be spent as we have to wait till dice being landed.
So the match came down to 3 aways and I thought he would have time trouble if the match got longer. I decided to exploit this weakness already at that score. At 3away-2away I didn't double him where I would in the normal condition. Because if he dropped the cube the match would go 2 aways and it would be effectively DMP (i.e. 1 game). By not doubling 1) I might win G so that he needs to play 2 games to win 2) I might cash a single game much later anyway but it consume his time. My strategy seems worked in scenario 2 as I won a point but it consumed his time.
To my surprise, he didn't double at 2away-2away instantly. Of course I didn't double either as I didn't want to make the match in one game. (I might have doubled if I had overwhelming favorite) He cashed a point. Even though I lost a game I felt lucky.
At DMP he had only 11 seconds left in his clock and he seemed not in the mood of playing speed gammon.I decided to complicate the game with many rolls. I would have double slot with 21 and so many other rolls but maybe not 31 or 42. He opened the game with 61 and I replied with 61. I double slotted and it wasn't a big decision for me because 61 is almost the best slotting roll.
I regret two moves. The first blunder is shown below.
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| XGID=---AaBCAA-----bAbbccAbBAB-:0:0:1:22:10:10:0:11:10 | |||||
| Blue to play 22 | |||||
| 1. | XG Roller+ | 24/20 15/13 6/4* | eq: -0.185 | |||
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| 2. | XG Roller+ | 8/4* 6/4 4/2 | eq: -0.329 (-0.144) | |||
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| 3. | 4-ply | 24/20 8/4* | eq: -0.215 (-0.030) | |||
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| 4. | 4-ply | 24/20 7/5 6/4* | eq: -0.225 (-0.040) | |||
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| 5. | 4-ply | 24/20 6/4*(2) | eq: -0.231 (-0.046) | |||
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eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.10, MET: Kazaross XG2
I chose 8/4* 6/4 4/2. It is a blunder not because XG says so but because it makes him easier to play out. He simply picks up all blots and make a point one by one.I was 4 checkers on the bar in the process and he didn't use his time. He saw what he should do.Since I was 4 on the bar even if he leave a shot in the bear off it would be 11 shot instead of 20+ shot as in a normal backgame. This is probably a gigantic blunder.
I wasn't sure if I should have broken my board here;
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| XGID=-a---BBa--------BABBB--A-A:0:0:1:51:10:10:0:11:10 | |||||
| Blue to play 51 | |||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.10
MCG told me I should have kept 5p and 6p so that he has less chance to have an anchor in the outfield. The last thing I want him to do is having the anchor in front of my outside prime as I should break the prime to squeeze him. Keeping 5p and 6p also prevent him from rolling 55 nor 66 from the bar as a joker.
However, it is also not easy to contain two checkers with 11 checkers so I am still not sure what is the right strategy. I should roll out by hand. (XG is not reliable at all)
The last blunder is this.
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| XGID=bCCCC-B-------------------:0:0:1:52:10:10:0:11:10 | |||||
| Blue to play 52 | |||||
eXtreme Gammon Version: 2.10
This is a combined factor of a misunderstanding and a lack of time. No excuse as both of them are my failure.
So did my strategy worked? I believe so. I would slot 61 double slot next time for sure. You never know what would happen if you came down to a few seconds. It was painful to lose the game like this but at least we had a great experience. Both of us enjoyed the match.