Backgammon – Three Basic Techniques
In extraordinarily simple terms, there are three main plans employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the action of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you are able to achieve, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate strategy at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anywhere between your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is comprised of closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your competitor tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your challenger is now in big-time difficulty since they have two pieces on the bar and you have locked half your home board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position occupied by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It must be played when you are significantly behind as it much improves your circumstances. The better places for anchor spots are close to your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is integral for an effectual backgame: after all, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your competitor is shifting their checkers home, seeing that you do not have any other spare checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!