Backgammon – Three General Techniques

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In astonishingly simple terms, there are three fundamental plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you are able to achieve, to barricade in the opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable strategy at the start of the match. You can build the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the match progresses.

The Blitz

This consists of locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. e.g., if your opposer rolls 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 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your competitor is then in serious trouble seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have 2 or more anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It would be employed when you are extremely behind as this action greatly improves your opportunities. The better areas for anchor spots are near your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is crucial for an effective backgame: after all, there is no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your competitor is moving their checkers home, because you don’t have any other additional checkers to move! In this case, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position until your challenger gives you a chance to hit, so it will be a great idea to try and get your opposer to get them in this case!