Newsletter for 4 May 2004

Happy Quatro de Mayo!

On Tuesday, 4 May 2004, the Backgammon Club of San Diego met. We ushered in May the only way we know how... with a tournament.

Tournament News

10 people entered a 16-player bracket on Tuesday night. We had the following tournament results:

First place: Sho Sengoku
Second place: Osman Guner
Third place: Henry Chaboki / Bruce Haight (split)
Blitz winner: Adrian Costa

An unprecedented five people scored master points, thanks to a third place split between Henry and Bruce and a blitz that was won by Adrian.

Current Master Points Standings

By winning a blitz, Adrian has moved to the top spot for the first time all year. Bruce Haight remains just six points off the lead, well within striking distance.

 1. Adrian Costa     39
 1. Jason Lee        39
 3. Bruce Haight     33
 4. Tom Fahland      26
 5. Osman Guner      25
 6. Sho Sengoku      22
 7. Cyrus Mobedshahi 18
 8. Fred Kamgar      17
 9. Henry Chaboki    11
10. Marcia Karen      9
11. Eric Sedehi       8
12. Mark Weiner       3
13. Ryan Knowles      2
13. Chris Rosin       2
13. Greg Kopp         2
16. Maira Costa       1
16. Sam Mehri         1

The point leader at the end of the year will be named the BCSD Player of the Year, and the top 16 in the Master Point standings will be invited to the 2004 BCSD Tournament of Champions, to be held in early 2005.

Problem of the Week

The following position is from a BCSD tournament match on 27 April 2004 between Bruce Haight (Black) and Osman Guner (White).

+-24-23-22-21-20-19-+---+-18-17-16-15-14-13-+

| |

| | 1X| |

| 1 |

| |

+--1--2--3--4--5--6-+---+--7--8--9-10-11-12-+

Black on roll. Cube action? Pip counts: White 132, Black 133
Position ID: xs6hA0Cb3QAAMw Match ID: cAngAFAAGAAA

Last Week's Problem of the Week

Last Week's Problem of the Week was a match in the Open Main Division of the Spring 2004 FIBS Tournament:

+-24-23-22-21-20-19-+---+-18-17-16-15-14-13-+

| |

| | 1X| |

| | 5 5

| 2 |

+--1--2--3--4--5--6-+---+--7--8--9-10-11-12-+

Black leads 7-6 in a 9 point match. Pip counts: White 108, Black 102
Position ID: 9mwHAFB22wEKIA Match ID: UYk2AWAAOAAA

GNU says simple is best -- Black still has a bit of work to do to escape the back checker, and getting hit would be bad.

# Ply Move Equity

1 R 15/5 14/4 +0.559

0.788 0.272 0.006 - 0.212 0.019 0.000 +0.559 +0.559

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

2 R 15/5 14/9 6/1* +0.502 ( -0.057)

0.766 0.297 0.005 - 0.234 0.034 0.001 +0.502 +0.502

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

3 R 15/10 14/4 6/1* +0.462 ( -0.096)

0.748 0.286 0.006 - 0.252 0.039 0.001 +0.462 +0.462

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

4 R 15/10 6/1*(3) +0.427 ( -0.132)

0.727 0.214 0.002 - 0.273 0.032 0.001 +0.427 +0.427

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

5 R 14/9 6/1*(3) +0.418 ( -0.140)

0.722 0.206 0.002 - 0.278 0.030 0.001 +0.418 +0.418

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

We then asked how would you feel about the position if we changed it by moving the White checker on the bar to the 18 point, resulting in this position:

+-24-23-22-21-20-19-+---+-18-17-16-15-14-13-+

| |

| | | |

| | 5 5

| 2 |

+--1--2--3--4--5--6-+---+--7--8--9-10-11-12-+

Black leads 7-6 in a 9 point match. Pip counts: White 90, Black 102
Position ID: 9mwPACB22wEKIA Match ID: UYk2AWAAOAAA

The situation now is that hitting loose is correct, because now White is a serious threat to escape.

# Ply Move Equity

1 R 15/5 14/9 6/1* +0.221

0.633 0.069 0.001 - 0.367 0.053 0.001 +0.221 +0.221

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

2 R 15/10 14/4 6/1* +0.165 ( -0.056)

0.610 0.072 0.001 - 0.390 0.065 0.002 +0.165 +0.165

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

3 R 15/5 14/4 +0.139 ( -0.082)

0.576 0.097 0.002 - 0.424 0.016 0.000 +0.139 +0.139

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

4 R 15/10 6/1*(3) +0.023 ( -0.198)

0.536 0.035 0.000 - 0.464 0.057 0.001 +0.023 +0.023

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

5 R 14/9 6/1*(3) +0.018 ( -0.204)

0.531 0.028 0.000 - 0.469 0.052 0.001 +0.018 +0.018

0.000 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 11) with var.redn.

46656 games, Mersenne Twister dice gen. with seed 968356608 and quasi-random dice

Play: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

Cube: 0-ply cubeful [expert]

See you next week! Keep tossing those cubes,
J. Lee

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