Backgammon All About Backgammon

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In very simple terms, there are three basic strategies employed. You want to be agile enough to switch techniques almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you might achieve, to block in the competitor's checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable strategy at the begining of the game. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opponent tosses an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is then in serious dire straits since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have two or more anchors in your competitor's inner board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It should be played when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The best places for anchor spots are close to your opponent's lower points and either on adjacent points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for an effective 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 up this straight away, while your competitor is shifting their checkers home, because you do not have other additional checkers to move! In this case, it's more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a good idea to attempt and get your opponent to hit them in this situation!