Even Backgammon Grandmaster, John Clark gets into difficulties sometimes.

5-Point Match - Crawford Bennet (black) 3 Clark (white) 4 Black rolls 61

In the position above (Crawford) John has been forced into a backgame and has as many men and points in his opponent's home table as his opponent has. His opponent, Peter Bennet, then rolls 61 off the bar. John is happy to be hit as any spare men on the points he already occupies will be useful in being recirculated without having to break off his anchors. Peter plays 25/19 10/9.

It's debatable whether or not this is the correct play¹; as I've said above, John would be more than happy to have a few more men back and therefore protect his anchors until he chooses to break them rather than being forced to do so. But, one could argue, if Peter played 25/24, 12/6 and avoided the hit, he might be forced to hit back more than one man in the next two or three rolls. My preference is for 25/24 - and John agreed; but Peter didn't!

Peter progressed to the bearoff with John on the bar when he found himself in the following position:

5-Point Match - Crawford Bennet (black) 3 Clark (white) 4 White on roll

From this position white has 20 hitting numbers, all 4s (11) plus 62, 52, 32, 31, 22; or 55.55% of the 36 possible rolls. According to JellyFish, John has about a 21% chance of winning the match from this position with Peter still well in with 79% of winning the point and 45% chance of winning a gammon and the match. John rolls a wonderful 64, not only hitting the blot but making his own 5-point in the process and now has approximately a 52% chance of winning the match; and Peter now becomes the underdog with 48% and his gammons fall to just 5%. Although the odds were well against him half way through this game, John came back (via his backgame) to win the point and this match.

Today saw the continued pursuit of the prized Gold Category, and, although a little less hectic than yesterday's pursuit, it was still a race for those hoping to make it by Thursday evening. At times there was just a blur of hands and dice as players galloped towards their own personal Fort Knox.

Todays Gold Category qualifiers were:

• John Clark
• Mahmoud Jahanbani
• John Slattery
• Steve Rimmer

Today, for idle amusement I spent the time between round pairings gazing out of the floor level windows at the balding heads of the drinkers in the bar garden beneath me. I take great pleasure at the shining pates of the younger men beneath me; they might have, younger, firmer bodies, they might have muscle where I've run to fat, they might have a great all-over tan whereas mine is confined to my knees, but I have a full head of hair! What I find most comforting is that when they reach my age they'll have squashy bodies, flabby muscles, a pale tan and perhaps, no hair!

¹ I still think mine is the correct play. I hope to either seal John behind a prime while his board crunches or force him to hit if he releases a man with a 6 - Peter Bennet.