Backgammon – 3 General Schemes

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In astonishingly general terms, there are three general techniques employed. You must be agile enough to hop between strategies quickly as the action of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate procedure at the start of the game. You can build the wall anyplace inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This involves closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. e.g., if your opponent tosses an early two and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you will be able to play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your competitor is now in serious difficulty seeing that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have two or more pieces in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor is a position occupied by at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It should be used when you are extremely behind as this plan greatly improves your circumstances. The best places for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: besides, there’s no reason having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break up this right away, while your competitor is getting their checkers home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other additional pieces to move! In this case, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your opposer gives you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your opponent to get them in this situation!