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Backgammon – Three General Schemes
July 8th, 2020 by Kaitlynn

In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 main game plans employed. You must be agile enough to switch strategies quickly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to block in your opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most acceptable strategy at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the game continues.

The Blitz

This consists of locking your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your competitor rolls an early two and moves one piece from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your opponent is then in serious dire straits seeing that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have 2 or more checkers in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at least two of your pieces.) It should be played when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest locations for anchors are close to your opponent’s lower points and either on adjoining points or with one point separating them. Timing is crucial for an effective backgame: besides, there is no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your opponent is moving their checkers home, because you do not have other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you can maintain your position up till your opponent gives you a chance to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!


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