In astonishingly simple terms, there are 3 general plans used. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques quickly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to lock in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most adequate course of action at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace between your 11-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the match progresses.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your opposer rolls an early two and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you will be able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your opposer is then in serious difficulty considering that they have two pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or more pieces in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum two of your pieces.) It needs to be used when you are decidedly behind as it much improves your circumstances. The strongest locations for anchors are towards your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjacent points or with a single point in between. Timing is essential for a powerful 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 forced to break apart this straight away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, seeing that you do not have any other extra checkers to move! In this situation, it’s better to have checkers on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your opponent provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this case!
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