Backgammon – 3 Main Plans
In astonishingly simple terms, there are three chief plans used. You need to be agile enough to hop between tactics almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable course of action at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anywhere between your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match progresses.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and moves one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 six/one eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is then in serious dire straits considering that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at least 2 of your pieces.) It must be used when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The better locations for anchors are near your opponent’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with one point in between. Timing is important for an effectual backgame: besides, there is no point having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then required to break apart this straight away, while your challenger is getting their pieces home, seeing that you don’t have any other spare pieces to shift! In this situation, it’s better to have checkers on the bar so that you might preserve your position up till your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a great idea to attempt and get your opponent to hit them in this case!