Backgammon – Three General Plans
In very simple terms, there are 3 chief techniques employed. You want to be able to hop between strategies instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This involves assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to achieve, to barricade in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable strategy at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace between your eleven-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your challenger rolls an early 2 and shifts one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your competitor is now in serious trouble since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!
The Backgame
This course of action is where you have 2 or more anchors in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a point occupied by at a minimum two of your checkers.) It must be used when you are significantly behind as this plan much improves your opportunities. The best places for anchors are close to your opponent’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is integral for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break apart this straight away, while your opponent is shifting their pieces home, owing to the fact that you do not have any other spare checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position up till your opposer gives you a chance to hit, so it can be a good idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
