The Essential Basics of Backgammon Tactics – Part 1

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The goal of a Backgammon match is to shift your checkers around the Backgammon board and get them off the game board faster than your opposing player who works just as hard to achieve the same buthowever they move in the opposing direction. Succeeding in a match in Backgammon requires both tactics and good luck. Just how far you will be able to shift your checkers is left to the numbers from tossing the dice, and how you move your chips are determined by your overall playing techniques. Players use differing strategies in the differing parts of a match based on your positions and opponent’s.

The Running Game Strategy

The aim of the Running Game strategy is to bring all your checkers into your inner board and bear them off as fast as you can. This tactic concentrates on the pace of moving your chips with little or no time spent to hit or stop your opponent’s pieces. The ideal time to employ this plan is when you believe you might be able to shift your own checkers faster than your opponent does: when 1) you have less checkers on the board; 2) all your chips have past your opponent’s chips; or 3) your opponent does not use the hitting or blocking strategy.

The Blocking Game Strategy

The main goal of the blocking tactic, by its title, is to stop the opponent’s chips, temporarily, not fretting about moving your chips rapidly. Once you’ve established the barrier for the opponent’s movement with a few checkers, you can move your other checkers quickly off the game board. The player should also have a clear plan when to extract and shift the checkers that you utilized for blocking. The game gets interesting when the opponent utilizes the same blocking tactic.