Backgammon – 3 General Plans

In exceptionally general terms, there are 3 chief plans employed. You must be able to switch strategies quickly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This comprises of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you might manage, to barricade in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable procedure at the start of the match. You can build the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the match advances.

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 rolls an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play six/one 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your opposer is now in serious trouble since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This tactic is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at least two of your pieces.) It must be employed when you are extremely behind as this action much improves your circumstances. The better areas for anchors are near your opponent’s lower points and either on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is critical for a powerful backgame: after all, there is no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break down this straight away, while your opposer is moving their checkers home, seeing that you don’t have any other spare checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position until your opponent provides you a chance to hit, so it can be a good idea to attempt and get your opposer to hit them in this case!

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