Backgammon – 3 Basic Plans
In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 basic strategies employed. You want to be able to hop between game plans almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to lock in your competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as fast as possible while keeping your competitor on the bar. For example, if your competitor tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you will be able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your competitor is now in big-time difficulty taking into account that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have two or higher pieces in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It must be played when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your circumstances. The strongest locations for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is integral for a powerful backgame: after all, there is no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your opponent is shifting their pieces home, taking into account that you do not have any other extra checkers to move! In this situation, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position until your opposer provides you a chance to hit, so it may be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your opposer to get them in this case!