Backgammon – Three Basic Schemes

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In astonishingly general terms, there are three fundamental tactics employed. You need to be able to switch tactics almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This is composed of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to lock in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable procedure at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This consists of closing your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opponent tosses an early two and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play six/one 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your opposer is now in serious trouble because they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have 2 or more pieces in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It needs to be used when you are extremely behind as it much improves your circumstances. The strongest places for anchors are near your competitor’s smaller points and also on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: besides, there’s no reason having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break apart this straight away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other spare pieces to shift! In this situation, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position up until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a good idea to attempt and get your challenger to get them in this case!