Backgammon – Three Basic Strategies

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In very general terms, there are 3 fundamental plans used. You want to be agile enough to switch techniques instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you can manage, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate tactic at the start of the match. You can assemble the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match advances.

The Blitz

This is composed of closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one checker from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you are able to play six/one 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is then in serious difficulty taking into account that they have two 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 opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at a minimum two of your pieces.) It would be played when you are significantly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The best locations for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is important for a competent backgame: after all, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your competitor is getting their pieces home, because you don’t have other extra pieces to shift! In this case, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it may be a great idea to try and get your opponent to get them in this case!