Backgammon – 3 General Plans
In astonishingly simple terms, there are three basic techniques employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between game plans almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is comprised of creating a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you can manage, to block in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable strategy at the start of the game. You can create the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is comprised of locking your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. For example, if your competitor rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your competitor is then in big-time calamity because they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or more checkers in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It would be played when you are extremely behind as this strategy much improves your circumstances. The best places for anchor spots are towards your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is integral for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break apart this right away, while your opposer is shifting their pieces home, because you don’t have any other additional pieces to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up until your opponent provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a great idea to attempt and get your challenger to get them in this situation!
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