In astonishingly general terms, there are three chief game plans employed. You must be agile enough to hop between strategies instantly as the course of the game unfolds.
The Blockade
This is composed of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum 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 acceptable tactic at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the game advances.
The Blitz
This involves locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opponent rolls an early 2 and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your opponent is then in big-time difficulty because they have two pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!
The Backgame
This plan is where you have 2 or higher pieces in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor is a point consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It would be used when you are extremely behind as this action much improves your chances. The strongest places for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s smaller points and either on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is integral for a competent backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this right away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, because you do not have other extra checkers to shift! In this case, it’s more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position up until your opposer provides you a chance to hit, so it may be a great idea to try and get your challenger to get them in this situation!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
