Archive for December 4th, 2017

Backgammon – Three Basic Techniques

Posted in Backgammon on 12/04/2017 03:25 am by Jillian
[ English ]

In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 fundamental techniques employed. You need to be agile enough to switch game plans instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This comprises of assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you are able to manage, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the match. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This involves closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your competitor on the bar. i.e., if your competitor rolls an early 2 and moves one checker 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 8/3. Your opponent is now in big-time calamity considering that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have two or higher pieces in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It must be played when you are extremely behind as this action much improves your chances. The better areas for anchors are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with one point in between. Timing is important for a powerful backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your competitor is moving their pieces home, considering that you do not have any other additional checkers to move! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you might preserve your position until your opposer provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a great idea to attempt and get your opponent to hit them in this case!