Backgammon – Three Main Schemes
Posted in Backgammon on 07/11/2019 05:25 am by Jillian
In exceptionally general terms, there are three main plans used. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of assembling a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you might manage, to lock in the competitor’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate strategy at the start of the game. You can create the wall anywhere between your 11-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match progresses.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opponent is then in big-time trouble taking into account that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have two or more anchors in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It should be employed when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your circumstances. The better places for anchors are near your opponent’s lower points and also on adjoining points or with one point in between. Timing is essential for an effective backgame: besides, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break apart this straight away, while your opponent is moving their pieces home, because you don’t have other spare checkers to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your opposer gives you a chance to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your opponent to get them in this case!