Backgammon – 3 Basic Plans
Posted in Backgammon on 08/13/2019 09:25 pm by Lillie
In extraordinarily general terms, there are three chief plans used. You need to be able to hop between tactics almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of creating a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to lock in the opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate tactic at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere between your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. e.g., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you will be able to play six/one six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is then in serious dire straits since they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It should be used when you are decidedly behind as this strategy greatly improves your chances. The strongest places for anchors are towards your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjacent points or with a single point in between. Timing is integral for an effectual backgame: after all, there’s no reason having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break up this straight away, while your competitor is shifting their checkers home, seeing that you don’t have any other extra checkers to shift! In this case, it is more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a good idea to try and get your opposer to hit them in this situation!