Backgammon – Three General Plans

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In exceptionally general terms, there are 3 fundamental strategies employed. You must be agile enough to hop between game plans instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of creating a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to lock in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable procedure at the begining of the match. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This involves closing your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opposer rolls an early two and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your challenger is then in big-time calamity considering that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have two or more checkers in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It would be played when you are significantly behind as this plan greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest places for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s lower points and either on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: besides, there is no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your opposer is shifting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other additional checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to try and get your challenger to get them in this situation!