In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 chief game plans employed. You need to be agile enough to switch game plans almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you might manage, to barricade in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable strategy at the start of the match. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.
The Blitz
This involves closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your competitor rolls an early two and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play six/one six/one 8/3 8/3. Your opponent is now in big-time trouble seeing that they have two pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It would be used when you are decidedly behind as this action greatly improves your circumstances. The better locations for anchor spots are near your opponent’s lower points and also on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is important for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break up this right away, while your competitor is shifting their pieces home, taking into account that you don’t have any other additional checkers to move! In this case, it is more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your opponent to get them in this situation!
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