Backgammon – Three Main Strategies

Tuesday, 28. February 2017

In exceptionally general terms, there are three fundamental game plans used. You need to be able to hop between tactics instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to lock in the opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate tactic at the start of the game. You can create the wall anyplace between your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.

The Blitz

This is comprised of closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your competitor rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time difficulty because they have two pieces on the bar and you have locked half your home board!

The Backgame

This tactic is where you have two or higher anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at a minimum two of your checkers.) It needs to be employed when you are decidedly behind as it much improves your opportunities. The best places for anchors are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: besides, there is no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break down this straight away, while your competitor is shifting their checkers home, considering that you do not have any other spare checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position until your opposer provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a wonderful idea to try and get your competitor to get them in this situation!

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