Backgammon – 3 Basic Strategies
Posted in Backgammon on 09/09/2020 09:25 am by Jillian
In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 fundamental strategies employed. You want to be able to hop between game plans quickly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as deep as you can achieve, to lock in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable tactic at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is now in big-time dire straits taking into account that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at least two of your checkers.) It must be employed when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your chances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are near your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjacent points or with one point separating them. Timing is important for a competent backgame: after all, there is no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then required to break apart this right away, while your challenger is getting their pieces home, because you do not have any other extra checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to attempt and get your challenger to get them in this case!