In astonishingly general terms, there are three general plans used. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves creating a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to block in your opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable course of action at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anyplace between your 11-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your opposer tosses an early two and moves one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play six/one six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opponent is now in serious trouble considering that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or higher checkers in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at least two of your checkers.) It needs to be played when you are extremely behind as this strategy greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest locations for anchors are close to your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is critical for a powerful backgame: after all, there’s no reason having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your opposer is shifting their pieces home, taking into account that you don’t have other extra pieces to move! In this case, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your competitor gives you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a great idea to attempt and get your opponent to get them in this case!
This entry was posted on October 31, 2024, 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.