Backgammon – Three General Schemes
Posted in Backgammon on 08/16/2019 01:25 pm by Lillie
In extraordinarily general terms, there are three general strategies employed. You must be agile enough to switch techniques almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of creating a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate procedure at the start of the game. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match continues.
The Blitz
This is comprised of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your competitor tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your opposer is now in big-time calamity seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have 2 or more anchors in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It needs to be employed when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The best locations for anchor spots are near your opponent’s smaller points and also on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for a competent backgame: after all, there’s no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your competitor is moving their pieces home, considering that you don’t have any other additional pieces to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a great idea to attempt and get your opponent to get them in this situation!