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Alan Alsop: 13/8.
Moving up from the back and coming under the gun is asking for trouble with White eagerly waiting to pounce. Bringing down two men is a great opportunity to make more home pts. Blue unfortunately has split which is natural at this stage, but it could incur White hitting and with two men in the outer board it could leave Blue in a bad position. A steady move is called for.

Chuck Bower: 23/18.
With no anchor, I believe Blue needs to step carefully here. Bringingeven one loose builder down from the midpoint (let alone two) looksrisky as White will definitely go into attack mode if given the chance.For me the two finalists are 23/18 and 13/8. The former tries for anadvanced anchor with moderate risk, and in addition pressures White'sblot on his 9-point. 13/8 moves a good builder to a slightly betterlocation but otherwise does nothing to improve things. I think therelative positions render taking some risk worthwhile, so my play is23/18.

Ilia Guzei: 13/8.
White has many checkers trained on his 5 and bar points so I am not sticking my head out. Let's wait one turn and see what good things will happen for me then. This turn - no extra blots with 13/11, no action plays.

Oystein Johansen: 13/11, 13/10.
I don't like coming under the gun, so I leave the back chequers as theyare. Should I play the supersafe 13/8 or try to do something constructivelike 13/11 13/10. I think it's still early in the game so I simply play13/11 13/10, and try do something constructive my next move. If I'm hit itwon't be too bad.

Neil Kazaross: 23/20, 13/11.
I have a slight preference for 23-20 13-11 here over 23-18 and 13-8. Idon't really care for 11& 10 stripping the midpoint. 13-8 seems just a bit too passive for my tastes. Very slightly I prefer the slightly bigger play to his 5 point along with the builder on our 11 to 23-18. Note that once your opponent has a point closed in his board you lose some normal return shots after the split to his bar. This, combined with the fact that his 8 point isn't stripped cause me to go for 23-20 13-11

George Klitsas: 23/20, 13/11.
If Blue is going to play "under the gun", he must slot a point that he wants to make (the 20 or the 18 and not the 22 point). Between the 20 and the 18 points, it seems preferable to slot the 20 point, since, if White does not make the point on Blue's head and chooses to hit loose, Blue hill have much more return shots from the bar. Other moves, like slotting the five point (13/11 8/5) or bringing two down , even when succeed in making new points, will lead to a prime vs prime type of game, in which Blue has the disadvantage for timing reasons. In fact, in these two cases, Blue will hardly be able to use those builders or the slot, because White plays first and will attack them directly or indirectly by attacking on the other side. I left last the unproductive 13/8, which might not be the worst move, but for sure not my selection, which is 23/20 13/11.

Laila Leonhardt: 13/11, 13/10.
It's early in the game. With the back checker split and White threatening tospend his roll improving his prime, it's a good time to make sure thatyou'll get a chance to do something constructive in return. By brining 2checkers down you are in a position to counter prime if White makes a pointand the split back checkers gives extra flexibility if Blue should get hit.

Snowie: 13/8.
My back checkers are fine where they are now. There is no need to split themagain. Simply bringing in more reinforcements for the eight point in orderto prepare for my evenutal attack looks just right.

Marty Storer: 23/20, 13/11.
Ugly. The race is about even, and Blue has found what lookslike the worst roll. White has threats; what can Blue do toforestall them? He can aggressively advance a back checker,or fearfully play the weenie-safe 13/8, hoping for betterthings next time. Though such weenie plays are often thebest of a bad lot, here it seems too hard to find enoughnext time, after White has probably made some good pointand Blue has depleted his midpoint. 13/10 13/11 is a ding-dangdangerous two-front midpoint-stripping catch-up play that feelslike a slot-and-split, so that's out. Between 23/20 13/11 and23/18, I'd rather try for the 20 point and duplicate the betterset of hitting/pointing numbers. The builder on the 11 is a smallplus in favor of advancing to the 20.

Bob Stringer: 23/18.
Although White hasn't split yet, he's in the better position toattack. That means neither slotting nor coming up to the 20 pointis in the cards, and I should also be a little cautious aboutleaving two indirect shots in the outfield with 13/11, 13/10.24/22, 13/10 is just too strange-looking; it's not as risky as23/20, but it doesn't have the same up-side either. 13/8 is toopassive. So 23/18 looks like it's the play. White would rather makehis 5 point, but he can't ignore a checker on the bar point. Sure,the odds are that my blot will be hit, but the great odds are thatWhite won't point on it, and so I may get a return shot.

Casper van der Tak: 13/11, 13/10.
Blue is ahead in the race, and White has the better points and better priming potential. Blue is not keen on entering a priming contest, but what is the alternative to steer the game in another direction? I suppose cases could be made for further activating the back checkers, but White has three builders poised to hit and point on Blue. Since Blue's back checkers are already split, there is no great urgency to resplit them, and Blue can concentrate on building his position.

Kit Woolsey: 23/18.
A standard distraction play. White is threatening to make a valuable innerboard point. By stepping out to his bar point I force him to deal withthis checker, which prevents him from making best use of a roll whichwould otherwise make the five or three pont. Getting hit doesn't hurtme that much, and I might roll a good number from the bar. If I am missed,I will probably be able to make the anchor or escape the checker.

Chris Yep: 24/22, 13/10.
Making the 4 or 5 point will significantly improve Blue's offense. At the same time Blue's back men are starting to feel some pressure. I like 24/22 13/10 which attempts to work on both sides of the board (23/20 13/11 is also possible, but is more risky since it slots the point White wants to make next).

Summary: Quite a diversity of opinion on what would appear to bea relatively simple and common type of problem. There are so manydifferent themes possible, and it is far from clear where the prioritiesare. A fascinating problem for an early game position.