In astonishingly simple terms, there are three general strategies employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between tactics almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to barricade in the opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate procedure at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anyplace between your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opponent rolls an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 six/one eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is then in big-time trouble since they have two checkers on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position filled by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It should be used when you are significantly behind as this action greatly improves your circumstances. The best places for anchors are towards your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is crucial for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there is no reason having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to dismantle this straight away, while your opponent is getting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other additional checkers to shift! In this case, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position up until your opposer provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to attempt and get your opponent to get them in this situation!
This entry was posted on December 8, 2025, 12:25 am 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.