Backgammon – Three General Schemes
In extraordinarily general terms, there are three fundamental plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques almost instantly as the action of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you can manage, to block in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable tactic at the start of the game. You can create the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one eight/three eight/three. Your opposer is then in big-time calamity considering that they have two pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have 2 or more pieces in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position occupied by at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It must be played when you are extremely behind as this action greatly improves your opportunities. The best areas for anchor spots are close to your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is essential for a powerful backgame: besides, there’s no reason having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break apart this right away, while your challenger is getting their checkers home, because you don’t have other additional pieces to shift! In this situation, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a great idea to attempt and get your challenger to get them in this case!
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