Backgammon Information

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In extraordinarily general terms, there are three chief strategies used. You need to be agile enough to hop between techniques instantly as the action of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you can manage, to lock in the competitor’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable course of action at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as fast as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you will be able to play six/one six/one eight/three 8/3. Your competitor is then in big-time calamity because they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It should be played when you are significantly behind as this plan much improves your circumstances. The better places for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjoining points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for a competent backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to dismantle this straight away, while your challenger is shifting their checkers home, owing to the fact that you do not have other spare checkers to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up until your opponent provides you a chance to hit, so it can be an excellent idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this case!