Backgammon – 3 General Plans
In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 basic plans employed. You need to be agile enough to hop between game plans almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you can manage, to barricade in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the match. You can build the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as fast as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. For example, if your competitor tosses an early two and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play 6/1 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is now in big-time trouble due to the fact that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have 2 or more anchors in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are decidedly behind as this strategy greatly improves your circumstances. The better locations for anchors are close to your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is critical for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no reason having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to dismantle this right away, while your opposer is getting their pieces home, taking into account that you don’t have other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it is more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your opponent gives you an opportunity to hit, so it may be a great idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this case!

