Backgammon – Three General Schemes
In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 basic game plans used. You want to be agile enough to switch tactics almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of assembling a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you are able to manage, to lock in your competitor’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable tactic at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere within your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your competitor on the bar. i.e., if your opponent tosses an early two and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play six/one 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is now in serious difficulty taking into account that they have two pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or more pieces in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at least two of your pieces.) It needs to be played when you are extremely behind as this plan greatly improves your circumstances. The best areas for anchors are near your competitor’s lower points and either on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is critical for a powerful backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break apart this right away, while your opposer is moving their checkers home, because you do not have other extra checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your opposer gives you a chance to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to try and get your opponent to hit them in this situation!
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