Backgammon – Three General Plans
In astonishingly general terms, there are three fundamental tactics employed. You want to be able to hop between tactics quickly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This consists of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you are able to achieve, to lock in the competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable tactic at the start of the game. You can create the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.
The Blitz
This consists of closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your competitor on the bar. i.e., if your opposer tosses an early two and moves one piece from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opponent is then in big-time dire straits taking into account that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your home board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at a minimum two of your pieces.) It should be played when you are significantly behind as it much improves your chances. The strongest locations for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s lower points and either on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is critical for an effectual 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 down this straight away, while your opponent is shifting their checkers home, because you don’t have any other spare checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position up till your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!