Michael Crane

The 'start' for blots that are hit is the bar or 25-point as it is sometimes referred to (the bar is the central divider between the two halves of the board). The man on the bar can only re-enter into his opponent's home by rolling dice that correspond to the point numbers in his opponent's home board (1 to 6, which are in fact points 24 down to 19 for the opponent).

Being hit and having to restart is true of any blots anywhere, not just the ones you might leave in your home board when bearing off against an opponents man on the bar (or an opponent's man occupying one or more of your inner points after he has re-entered from the bar).

In Diagram 2 you have a blot on your 3-point and in Diagram 3A in exercise 2 you have several blots! This is very dangerous when bearing off against opposition. Many games which should have been won are lost when a blot is hit during thebearoff.

Diagram4

Exercise 3: Set up as Diagram 4, with an opponent on the bar. Now, using the same dice rolls as for Diagram 1, 61, 32, 42, 62 it can be readily seen that if we make the same move with the 61, 6 off (shown as 6/0), 1/0 we leave a blot on the 6-point. If white rolls a 6 (it must be a 6 not 42, or 51 or 33 as these are blocked) on his turn he will hit our blot and force us to restart from the bar in his inner board - and, whilst there is a man on the bar, no other piece can be moved until it has re-entered, sort of like rolling a 6 in ludo to start a man. 

If you are on the bar and cannot re-enter then no other men can be moved and your move is forfeit. This is often called dancing or fanning and, if you have any blots exposed it is likely that your opponent can hit them too! So, we play 6/0 and 6/5 (6 to 5) keeping the blot safe.

With this in mind (assuming that white never re-enters on his roll except when there's a blot to hit) play the remaining rolls as safely as you can bearing off when you can and down when you can't: 32, 42, 62, and 62 leaving this position.

Diagram4A

Now, it is getting quite difficult to take men off without leaving a blot - do you know how many rolls leave a blot next time? Don't forget that as you are using two dice each roll is in fact two rolls!

To explain: Imagine you are using two different coloured dice, one red, one white and you roll a 32; with the red die on 3 and the white die on 2, but it could be the other way around, white die on 3 red die on 2 and still be only one move, 32. In fact, using two dice there are 36 combinations of dice rolls; so plenty to choose from!

Back to the position in Diagram 4A above: how many of those 36 possible rolls will force a blot? Don't cheat by looking at the correct answer, write them all down. You should have 25 rolls that leave a blot (or a quicker way to do it is there are 11 that don't : 61, 51, 41, 31, 21, 11).

Exercise 4: Practice a few bearoffs with a man on the bar setting up Diagram 4 and see if you can avoid leaving blots. It's not always possible to do so, but, often, with a little forethought you can considerably reduce the chances of doing so. This expertise is essential in playing winning backgammon and it is well worth the time taken to master it. 

One tip is try to keep your top two points evenly distributed, looking for the bad rolls next time. As a general guide if you are able to take 66 or 65 on the next roll without leaving a blot then you are almost 99% certain not to leave a blot on that forthcoming roll - note, not 100% as on rare occasions blots can be left. Once you've mastered the tactic of bearing off safely against opposition from the bar we'll move to opposition within your home board.