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Backgammon – Three General Techniques

Posted in Backgammon on 08/04/2017 08:25 pm by Madisyn
[ English ]

In exceptionally general terms, there are three chief game plans employed. You must be able to switch game plans instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of building a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as thick as you might manage, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate strategy at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anyplace between your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match progresses.

The Blitz

This consists of locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is then in big-time dire straits considering that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have two or higher checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at least 2 of your pieces.) It needs to be played when you are significantly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The best locations for anchors are near your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is integral for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no reason having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break down this right away, while your competitor is moving their pieces home, seeing that you do not have other additional checkers to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!