Black is on the bar and must choose which location inside White’s home board to enter after the roll Black 54s.

A common mistake blamed on not looking before leaping and on visual laziness.

Sometimes Black has the right — nay the requirement — to place the checkers physically on the board, then stare at two possible moves, back and forth, before picking up the dice.

Please slide the visual slider bar, first right to the poorer play and then left to the better play, and repeat. The checker comparison appears exclusively on White’s side of the board, leaving two vulnerable black blots instead of one black blot plus one new black point in White’s outfield.

The poorer play is Black’s entry at the 20pt and spare to the black midpoint. The better play is the correct Black entry at the deeper 21pt and a new black 17pt in the outfield, a landing post. The difference in equity between Black’s wrong handling on White’s side of the board is a consequential 68mp (seven cents on the dollar). Two blots are riskier than one blot. Plus the new outfield anchor.

There is no excuse for such visual errors. The fix? Looking before leaping. Get tactile with the tactics.