Backgammon – 3 General Techniques

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In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 fundamental techniques employed. You need to be agile enough to switch game plans almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as deep as you might achieve, to block in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate strategy at the start of the game. You can create the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This is composed of closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. i.e., if your competitor tosses an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your opponent is now in serious difficulty taking into account that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point occupied by at a minimum two of your checkers.) It must be employed when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest places for anchors are near your competitor’s lower points and also on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is crucial for an effective backgame: besides, there is no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to dismantle this right away, while your opposer is shifting their checkers home, because you don’t have any other spare pieces to shift! In this case, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your opposer provides you a chance to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this case!