Backgammon – 3 General Plans
In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 fundamental game plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between strategies almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of creating a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at least as deep as you are able to achieve, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable strategy at the start of the match. You can assemble the wall anywhere inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This is comprised of closing your home board as fast as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. i.e., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and shifts one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play six/one 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your opponent is then in big-time dire straits considering that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or more anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It would be employed when you are extremely behind as this action greatly improves your circumstances. The better places for anchors are close to your opponent’s smaller points and also on adjacent points or with a single point separating them. Timing is essential for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to break up this right away, while your opponent is getting their checkers home, taking into account that you don’t have any other spare checkers to move! In this case, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position up till your challenger gives you a chance to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your opposer to hit them in this situation!