Backgammon – 3 General Schemes
by Karla on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016
In extraordinarily simple terms, there are three fundamental plans employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between strategies quickly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as thick as you might manage, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate procedure at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This is comprised of locking your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. For example, if your opposer tosses an early 2 and moves one piece from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you will be able to play six/one six/one eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is then in big-time dire straits seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have two or more anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor is a position filled by at least 2 of your checkers.) It must be played when you are extremely behind as this strategy greatly improves your circumstances. The strongest areas for anchors are near your competitor’s lower points and also on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is integral for an effectual backgame: besides, there’s no point having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to dismantle this straight away, while your opposer is getting their pieces home, because you do not have any other additional pieces to shift! In this situation, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up till your opposer provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a great idea to attempt and get your competitor to get them in this situation!
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