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The 24/21 24/20 Play in Backgammon
The four-three opening roll is one of the interesting opening rolls in backgammon. There is no distinct favorite play among the favorite options. The four-three opening roll advocates a split and build play in backgammon, but there are still other options open to players. One peculiar play for this opening roll is to do a 24/21 24/20 play. Let's take a closer look at this play and see what it has to offer our backgammon strategy.
Split plays advocate an aggressive type of game in backgammon. Most split plays will give you a couple of very viable options. The first one is that by splitting your back checkers you have a chance to run one backgammon checker to safety and gain the lead in the race.
Another option open to you is that by doing a backgammon split play, you can also go for an advanced anchor early in the game. Controlling a key point on your opponent's side of the backgammon board gives you the advantage in a game. Your opponent will have to think twice about bringing down builders to the outfield of the backgammon board since they are within range of your checkers.
Advanced anchors in backgammon serve as good blocks to inhibit your opponent's moves. By doing 24/21 24/20 you're not only making a split play, you are making a double split play. What backgammon players sometimes call a double split involves moving both back checkers.
One word of caution, doing a 24/21 24/20 has been considered by many backgammon players as not the best option for an opening roll of four-three. At the most, backgammon players will do a 24/21 24/20 when they are leading a match or the other extreme is when a player is really desperate to win a game. This backgammon play is also seen as wasteful in that you use both dice results on the same objective.
If we take a closer look into the 24/21 24/20 play, this isn't really bad at all. The idea behind this play is to escape one or even both back checkers early in the game. If you are able to pull this off then you have a good lead over your opponent.
Another thought about this play is that if one backgammon checker (or both) get hit, you can easily enter that backgammon checker and go for an advanced anchor. Hitting back does more damage to your opponent than to you at this point.
The 24/21 24/20 play is a peculiar way of playing the four-three opening roll in backgammon. It does have some potential but also has its weakness.