Backgammon Tips Winning Backgammon Tips

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In astonishingly general terms, there are three chief tactics used. You must be agile enough to hop between strategies quickly as the action of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you are able to manage, to lock in your opponent's pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable tactic at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match progresses.

The Blitz

This involves locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. e.g., if your opposer tosses an early two and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you will be able to play six/one 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your opponent is then in big-time difficulty because they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have 2 or more pieces in your opponent's home board. (An anchor is a position filled by at least 2 of your checkers.) It needs to be played when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your circumstances. The better places for anchors are near your competitor's smaller points and also on adjacent points or with one point in between. Timing is integral for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there is no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your opponent is shifting their checkers home, seeing that you don't have any other extra pieces to shift! In this case, it's more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up till your competitor gives you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this case!