Backgammon – 3 General Schemes
Posted in Backgammon on 11/17/2009 06:21 pm by Madisyn
In extraordinarily general terms, there are three main plans used. You need to be able to hop between game plans instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This is comprised of assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as thick as you can manage, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable course of action at the start 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 advances.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your opponent rolls an early 2 and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your opposer is now in big-time calamity because they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor is a point occupied by at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It needs to be employed when you are decidedly behind as this plan greatly improves your circumstances. The strongest locations for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s lower points and either on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to break apart this right away, while your challenger is moving their checkers home, considering that you don’t have any other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position up till your opponent provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this case!