Timing in Backgammon

Hey backgammon friends! Marc Olsen here, and today we're diving into a crucial concept in backgammon: timing.

What Is Timing?

You often hear the term "timing" discussed, but a clear definition can be elusive. I have my own way of understanding it, and I'll illustrate the concept through the following position:

This is a holding game position. Black has achieved full freedom here, but White is still stuck on an anchor on the 18 point. However, White is actually ahead by 34 pips in this position. So, White is on roll, and White is doing fine. But still, it's 60-40 in White's favor here. White is up 34 pips.

Why is it that White isn't a bigger favorite than just 60%?

The answer is that even though White has better race value in the above position, he has worse timing. White is forced to break his anchor if he rolls a 56, which would leave him in a position like this:

Just because one player is ahead in the race, it doesn't mean that he has a big edge because that racing lead is being countered by the opponent having better timing.

where Black will hit. And then White can simply lose the game by being trapped behind a prime.

In the position we can see that even though Black has inferior race, he has superior timing, whereas White has superior race but worse timing. This means that Black can keep his structure and position the way it is for longer. White either has to run from the anchor, or crunch his front position like this:

White crunching his front position

which is also bad for the race and bad if there's a hit exchange.

So, timing is your ability to keep your structure and position as strong as possible when you need it. I am not saying now, or later. Instead, I am saying “when you need it”.

Let’s have a look at another position - a back game position:

White is trapped in a deep back game here, and Black has a beautiful five prime. Black's really trapping White.

Who Is in Favor? Black or White?

If you were a primitive computer program here, you might have said: “White has two anchors. That's very strong. And White has a five-point board. That's also very strong. So, White must be doing fine in this game. He can easily hit some shots, and then he has a strong board.”

But an intelligent human player who has just learned the importance of timing can easily see what's going on in this position: White is going to crunch because White has no mobility. Plus, he has horrible timing.

He's going to eventually crunch his front position, and he's going to have a position where all of his checkers are buried here on the deeper points:

Even if he gets lucky and hits a turnaround shot, he's not going to win because he destroyed his front position. So, again, an example of very poor timing for White.

So, what it means to have a good timing is that you have a powerful front position when the critical moment in the game arises. And you can actually predict it further out in the game.

Knowing the Critical Moment

Let's say we have a position like this:

Here we can easily see that White has a very weak front position. He has a one-point board. This is no good. However, it doesn't matter because White doesn't need a good front position at the moment.

He needs it seven or eight rolls down the line. In seven or eight rolls, White will have a strong front position. He's going to come down, and he's going to build something like this:

And Black will be on the verge of crunching. He will be in a position like this:

Look at the powerful front position of White above. He's actually going to win the game if he hits a turnaround shot now.

So, in this position, White has good timing. He has timed his front position in such a way that when the critical moment in the match arises (which would be when he gets that shot), he will have a strong front position.

It's neither crunched, collapsed, nor is it underdeveloped. Instead, it’s in the sweet spot where he has a strong front position ready to secure a win if he gets the turnaround shot.

Conclusion

Overall, my definition of good timing is the likelihood of having a strong front position when the critical moment in the game arises. Timing is a significant element of backgammon because you might be superior in the race, but then you have the counteracting mechanism of timing. This is the tension between race and timing that goes on in almost all games.