Make it Pretty: Beautiful Backgammon Part Two

Continuing the discussion on odds and backgammon play, let us consider those of us that have not played backgammon for 25 years, have not spent thousands of hours studying the numbers and positions, and might not happen to have the math experties and memory skills of the experts.
What can we do to improve our game and play well?

The advice is to try to play "pretty" backgammon. Besides a mathematical approach to the game, there is also an aesthetic approach. It is totally possible to play excellent backgammon without calculating numbers and odds in your head constantly, simply by playing moves that "look" more appealing than others.

Of course, in order to make the best looking moves, you need to see what constitutes the definition of "beauty" in a backgammon game. Unfortunately, in backgammon, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. According to the definition of a beautiful game or position it is the one that gives you the highest odds. However instead of calculating the odds, you come to the same conclusion based on the looks of the position.

Making points in a row is what experts call a pretty position. A six prime is the most beautiful looking position in backgammon, and a six prime with your opponent's checkers on the bar, and his inner board destroyed is the Mona Lisa of backgammon. So you strive to create a Mona Lisa, and if you can't do that, if you can't make a 6-prime, you try to make a 5-prime. And if you can't make a 5-prime, you strive to make a 4-prime. And so on.

A pretty game is one where you have made your 5-point, and an even prettier game is one where you have made your 5 point and your bar point, and if you toss in the 4 point as well, and several of your opponents checkers on the bar or behind your prime, it becomes a beautiful game or position.

Conversely, an "ugly" game is one where you leave a lot of blots around the board. An ugly game is where you have points made that are not together, but separated by several spaces. An ugly game is one where you have many checkers stacked on one or two points. An ugly game is "inflexible" in that you have the fewest possibilities of rolls to safely and productively advance your position.

Holding several points in your opponent's inner board, with good timing and with your own inner board preserved is another kind of pretty game.

Nevertheless, this is not a license for advocating that players do not need to learn and study the odds. If you want to improve your game, you must do the math. But along the way, you can use aesthetics to augment your skills.

In backgammon, as in life, we should always strive for beauty.

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