Backgammon – 3 General Schemes
Posted in Backgammon on 04/15/2025 09:25 pm by Jillian
In exceptionally simple terms, there are three general game plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you might manage, to lock in your competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable strategy at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace inbetween your 11-point and your two-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 competitor on the bar. e.g., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is now in big-time calamity due to the fact that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have two or higher anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It would be employed when you are significantly behind as this plan much improves your chances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s lower points and also on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is integral for an effective backgame: after all, there’s no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this straight away, while your opponent is shifting their pieces home, seeing that you don’t have any other additional pieces to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a good idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!