Chuck Bower: 8/2*, 6/2.
On first glance, it appears Blue might want to play a timing game, hoping Whitewill break first. However, with such a ploy only White's 6-4 roll leavesa blot this turn. Furthermore, Blue's timing is shaky and every candidate except 13/7, 9/5 overshoots the 5-point. Even if that brave play survives this turn,there are many awkward followup rolls. Another approach is to hit loose on the deuce, but the twelve returns are quite penal. Blue does not want a thirdchecker behind the prime.
Pointing-on-head (8/2*, 6/2) gives Blue two ways to win -- keeping White on the bar and then escaping the back checkers with 5's, or pushing White to the acepoint and eventually forcing White's prime to break. Notice that White's entering 6-1 gives Blue the same shots on White's side as the 6-4 roll did forthe non-hitting rolls. 8/2*, 6/2 could be branded a 'beginner play', but sometimes the simple course is best.

Malcolm Davis: 13/7, 9/5.
I believe that you want your opponent to roll here. I amtoo far behind in the race to expect the 2-point to accomplish the necessary containment. I hope to get missed and crack my opponent, thereby making it much easier to escape.

Hal Heinrich: 13/7, 9/5.
Making the two point on White's head certainly needs to be considered- and then rejected. It doesn't slow White enough to give Blue a chancein the race - plus running and containing White is a tricky task in anycase. But priming White and forcing White's checkers deep is simple andeffective - when it works. Blue can use the cube very efficiently inthis kind of position. And when White does hit and escape, the gammon rate is pretty low plus Blue still has a three point game.

George Klitsas: 13/7, 9/5.
If this position were not presented as a problem, many good and bad players would play automatically 8/2* 6/2. Upon reflection, this does not look promising - Blue remains substantially behind in the race and the plan of making a prime is rather a faint one. The more one looks at 13/7 9/5, the more he likes the play. Blue is about even money to make the prime, most of White's three's that hit are already good numbers for him and many rolls of White break his own blockade. Needless to say, I vote for 13/7 9/5.

Laila Leonhardt: 13/7, 8/4.
As tempting as it might be to slot the 5-point and aim for quickly making the prime it seems to be too big.When owning the cube Blue is not in a hurry. White has enough trouble to overcome and 1 more check back of Blue's would be a great advantage for White.Blue is much better off not risking getting another checker back and force White under the gun is he rolls 3-1,3-2, 2-1 and 3-3. If White fails to roll a leaping number he will have to break his prime on all other 6's, 5-5 and 4-4

Rob Maier: 13/7, 9/5.
I don't think the short term safety and satisfaction of putting White on the roof outweighs the long term gains of slotting, at least when it works. When it doesn't, well, we can still come in and hit, and I've won three point games before.

Kevin McGrath: 8/2*, 6/2.
13/3 and 13/7, 6/2* have nothing going for them. I think if you are going to leave the 13 point, you should make the 9. After pointing on the 2, the man on the 13 is both a backstop and a builder. White does have 7 numbers to escape and 35 or 44 would make Blue pretty unhappy.

Martin Short: 8/2*, 6/2.
I was looking for something clever to do here but Ijust couldnt find anything. Making the 2pt. serves thepurpose of taking away half the roll and I really likerolls off the bar including a 6 (except 6-5). If theyenter on the 3 or 5 I can always attack again on thenext roll. The way to win this game is to pick on thatlast checker and get out my back men while it is onthe bar or once they are forced to leave the 7 or 9pt.

Snowie: 13/7, 9/5.
Let's take a close look at this position. We are way behind in the race.White has a stronger inner board. White has a decent blockade, but histiming is suspect. If we can contain White's back checker, we may be ableto force him to crack.
All these factors argue for steering toward a priming battle rather thantaking an attacking approach. We MUST have our five point. If we canget that point our chances in the priming battle are very good, but untilwe have that point White will always be one roll away from escaping andwinning. The fastest way to make a point is to start it, and that is whatwe should do. It is imperative to play 13/7, 9/5. If White hits that is justtoo bad, but a lot of White's rolls which get him to our five point aregood for him anyway. If White doesn't hit we will be good favorites to makethe solid five-prime and win the priming battle. That is the proper game planfor this position.

Marty Storer: 13/7, 9/5.
This is the most direct route to a win.White has 10 numbers to break his 7 or 9 point, afterwhich Blue is sitting pretty with cube in hand. IfWhite just misses the shot, Blue is happy to have the5 point slotted. The drawback is the 13 return shots,but I think Blue has to take the risk. Making the 2point on White's head is also OK, but I'd rather takea larger immediate risk now, in order to try for fivein a row. The immediate risk is strongly balanced bythe greater number of rolls that cause White to breakhis 7 or 9 point.

Bob Stringer: 13/7, 8/4.
Not sure of this one. But since White has one man back, basicprinciples say that I should be trying to block him. If he doesn't hitthe man I just slotted, I may well end up with an even nicer blockadethan I have now. And if he rolls a high number, he'll have to breakeither his bar point or nine point as well. 8/2*, 6/2 was my otherserious candidate - hitting and making an inner board point to matchthe strength of his board. The problem is that it really doesn't blockhim that well, since my 8 and 2 points don't go together well. Thisfar behind in the race I have to block that back man, and the riskfrom slotting the 4 point is worth it.

Casper van der Tak: 13/7, 9/5.
Either this or point on the 2. Pointing aims to win by building the board and escaping; 13/7 9/5 aims to win the priming battle (miss, cover, then build a 6-prime, escape, and redouble somewhere on the way). Since white may crack this turn I'd opt for the priming strategy and would not put white on the bar. If missed, Blue is doing very well with the cube on his side.
Pointing on the 2 is not very bad, but still I prefer 13/7 9/5, which puts White under the most pressure to perform.

Kit Woolsey: 8/2*, 6/2.
The five point can wait. We must attack the lone back checker. Making thetwo point leaves us with a flexible position from which we can continuethe attack.

Chris Yep: 13/7, 9/5.
Pointing on White is strong. However, with White having a large race lead, putting him on the bar for a turn or two may not be enough. Also 8/2* 6/2 strips the 8 point; if Blue continues to attack (as he often should), it looks like he will likely have to hit loose at some time. If this is true, then Blue might as well leave the direct shot now, since the gains are large if he is missed. I like 13/7 9/5. If Blue gets away with it, he'll be a big favorite to make a 5-prime (with White not at the edge) next turn.

Summary: I must admit that I did not appreciate the power of slottingthe five point in this tricky position. The more I look at it, the moreappealing it becomes. The arguments of the panelists in favor of this playare quite convincing. I know that if I were White, that is not the play Iwould like to see my opponent make.

Problem #4    Play             Votes   Score13/7, 9/5          8      1008/2*, 6/2          4       8013/7, 8/4          2       7013/3               0       4013/7, 6/2*         0       40 13/9, 8/2*         0       40