Backgammon – Three General Schemes
Posted in Backgammon on 08/28/2022 01:25 am by Jillian
In exceptionally simple terms, there are 3 main plans employed. You want to be able to hop between tactics instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is comprised of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as deep as you can achieve, to lock in the opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most acceptable course of action at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your competitor on the bar. For example, if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your competitor is then in big-time dire straits considering that they have 2 pieces 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 competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It must be played when you are significantly behind as this action greatly improves your opportunities. The better locations for anchors are close to your opponent’s lower points and also on adjacent points or with a single point in between. Timing is essential for a competent backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having 2 nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your opponent is moving their pieces home, taking into account that you don’t have any other additional checkers to move! In this case, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position until your competitor gives you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!