Lesson from backgammon master Mochy

Lesson from backgammon master Mochy

  • 🎲 Mochy is the number one backgammon player in the world.
  • 🎲 Mochy’s initial moves appear to be bad but he does it to explore all possibilities before making a final move.
  • 🎲 Mochy makes sure he sees all the possible moves to avoid missing the right one.
  • 🎲 Knee-jerk moves, which are common among players, can result in missed opportunities to find the best move.
  • 🎲 Mochy’s strategy is to look for a good play and then find a better one.
  • 🎲 Making the two-point move in a certain situation is a knee-jerk move, but the better move is to make the right play that leads to the opponent’s board crashing.

Interesting thought: Instead of placing checkers on the most obvious response, Mochy places checkers on a seemingly weak response, and then works his way through better responses. This makes total sense. Instead of “anchoring” his mind on the obvious favorite, he anchors on a weak response and works his way to better responses. In doing this, he may discover the obvious play was wrong. If he’d gone for obvious first, he probably wouldn’t have even considered alternatives seriously. This is a very Edward de Bono way of doing things.

I wonder though: the differences are small in the example PJ goes through. The logic of Mochy’s choice is appealing because it goes beyond the obvious, but the advantage of his play over the “obvious” play is fairly minor. The increments add up, sure, but I wonder if all we’re achieving is the feeling that we were right no matter what the outcome. That feeling isn’t trivial since it can preserve our confidence. Maybe that’s reason enough.

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