In very general terms, there are 3 basic game plans employed. You need to be agile enough to switch strategies quickly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in your competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable tactic at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opponent rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opponent is then in serious calamity considering that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or higher pieces in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at least two of your checkers.) It needs to be used when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your chances. The best locations for anchors are towards your competitor’s lower points and also on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is critical for a competent backgame: at the end of the day, there is no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break down this straight away, while your challenger is shifting their checkers home, taking into account that you don’t have any other spare checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you might preserve your position up till your challenger gives you a chance to hit, so it may be a wonderful idea to try and get your opponent to hit them in this situation!
This entry was posted on October 9, 2021, 9:25 pm and is filed under Backgammon. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.