Alan Alsop: 24/21, 11/7.
Blue needs to roll forward his prime and not take to many risks. Escaping the back man partway is an obvious choice in this game. Exposing another forward man to a direct shot is not good play allowing another man to be sent back to a stronger home board. But Blue does need to diversify his men to maximize his chances in priming White. The safe alternatives are a bit on the conservative side and could help White in this battle. The slightly riskier play of 13/10, 11/7 exposes this blot to 4 hitting numbers, but does this justify the risk. The risk is not required here with a strong setup. White has no additional builders to attack his home board so I will go for moving up my back man and safety my man on the 11 pt.

Chuck Bower: 7/3*, 6/3.
Blue can play agressively (hitting loose or pointing-on-head)or conservatively (bringing builders into position).Pointing-on-head is going to winmore gammons. It leaves 10 shots but the 26 misses give Blueexcellent chances of making the solid 5-prime. Blue has theupper hand and playing conservatively gives White too manychances of making the advanced anchor and squelching Blue'sgammon chances. Keep fighting.

Neil Kazaross: 24/21, 11/7.
Two choices for me here 1) is 24-21 11/7 and my 2nd choice is 11-7,13-10.I somewhat prefer 24-21 stepping up to escape before more builders come down and not leaving any outfield fly shots. Note that I don't think pointing on the 3 is correct here with those return shots vs a 3 point board.

George Klitsas: 24/21, 11/7.
Blue has a solid position and must play positionally (a play like 7/3* 6/3 would be quite wrong, given the number of return shots - if hit by one of them, Blue could become the underdog in one roll). Hitting lose is not attractive, too, for lack of ammunition. Remain three plays with, admittedly, little difference between them, in equity terms, namely 24/21 11/7, 13/6 and 13/10 11/7. Between them, I prefer 24/21 11/7, which leaves no jokers for White and prepares to escape Blue's back checker.

Laila Leonhardt: 13/10, 11/7.
Perfecting the prime is the goal and bringing more builders to achieve thisis important.The indirect shots that Blue leaves on the 10 point is outweighed by thefact that if hit he will be able to return hit on a 3, which is one of hisunusual numbers from the bar.

Snowie: 24/21, 11/7.
Simple checkers. When ahead in the race, race. Get the back man moving,and get the blot on the 11 point safe. Nothing else is remotely asattractive.

Marty Storer: 13/10, 11/7.
Making the 3 point seems too big, giving a whopping 10return shots and breaking the four-prime. 13/9 6/3* isa straightforward attempt at a five-prime, but it alsoseems too big and blotty against White's stronger board.Magriel's safe-vs-bold criteria say a safe play is best.The reasonable safe plays are 11/7 24/21 and 11/7 13/10.I like 13/10 a little better because of the greaterforward threats and reduced risk of being attacked inWhite's board.

Bob Stringer: 13/10, 11/7.
This is a fine position; a four-point prime and a racing lead. Mystructure doesn't call for attacking, since there's no ammo for itif I want to keep the prime at the same time - and I do, sinceWhite's anchor means I can't blitz him off the board. All thisrules out 6/3,* which risks losing the racing lead while not doingmuch to improve things even if it "works." 13/6 stacks up the 6point while doing nothing to improve my flexibility, so the playhas to be 11/7 plus something. 24/21 gives White something to do,whereas 13/10 gives me three builders aiming at the 4 point. Imuch prefer that to all other plays.

Casper van der Tak: 24/21, 11/7.
Aims to break contact, and safeties another blot. White is not in a good position to attack, so this is a good time to move up. A very close second choice is 13/10 11/7, aiming to build with low risk.
Point on White's head is not so strong - breaks the prime, and the tempo is not very significant.

Kit Woolsey: 24/21, 11/7.
White has the stronger inner board, while I have the better blockade andthe racing lead. This argues for safety and escape over everything else.24/21, 11/7 accomplishes both of these goals, as well as bringing animportant builder to the bar point.

Chris Yep: 24/21, 11/7.
Blue has fewer men back and a weaker board, but a solid prime. White has a stripped 8 point and no additional outfield checkers, but extra checkers on the midpoint waiting to develop. Thematically Blue should clean up his position and try to run his back checker to safety. 24/21 11/7 looks like the natural move. It picks up Blue's outfield blot, creates another builder for the 3 and 4 points, and prepares the back checker to escape at a time when White's front position is stripped (if Blue waits a roll to move up in White's inner board, White may have more builders ready to point on Blue's head). Since Blue has a solid 4-prime, if he can escape his back checker he'll have a good chance of coming home safely.

Summary: Simple is best. The majority of the panel went with blotconservation and racing, which is consistent with the position. I am quiteconfident about this play.

Problem #3   Play          Votes   Score24/21, 11/7        6      10013/10, 11/7        3       8024/22, 11/7        1       607/3*, 6/3          1       6013/6               0       4011/7, 6/3*         0       40