Backgammon – Three Basic Plans
Posted in Backgammon on 08/28/2015 07:21 am by Jillian
In very general terms, there are 3 fundamental tactics employed. You want to be able to hop between game plans almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of creating a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at least as deep as you can achieve, to lock in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate course of action at the start of the game. You can create the wall anyplace inbetween your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. i.e., if your competitor rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play six/one 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your opponent is now in big-time trouble since they have two checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position filled by at least 2 of your checkers.) It must be used when you are decidedly behind as it much improves your opportunities. The strongest locations for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is integral for a competent backgame: besides, there’s no reason having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break up this straight away, while your opponent is moving their pieces home, because you don’t have other additional pieces to shift! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your opponent provides you a chance to hit, so it can be a great idea to try and get your opponent to hit them in this situation!