Backgammon

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In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 chief strategies employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves building a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you might manage, to lock in your opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable strategy at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the match progresses.

The Blitz

This involves locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. i.e., if your competitor rolls an early two 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 eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time trouble seeing that they have two pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!

The Backgame

This plan is where you have 2 or more anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position occupied by at least two of your checkers.) It would be played when you are decidedly behind as this plan greatly improves your circumstances. The best locations for anchors are near your competitor’s lower points and either on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is crucial for a powerful backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break apart this right away, while your challenger is shifting their checkers home, owing to the fact that you do not have other spare pieces to move! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up until your opposer provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be an excellent idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this case!