[ English ]

In astonishingly simple terms, there are three basic techniques used. You must be agile enough to hop between techniques almost 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 thick as you are able to manage, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate course of action at the begining of the match. You can create the wall anywhere within your 11-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the game continues.

The Blitz

This is comprised of locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your opposer rolls an early two and moves one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time difficulty considering that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your home board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have 2 or more checkers in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a point filled by at a minimum two of your pieces.) It needs to be played when you are significantly behind as it much improves your opportunities. The best locations for anchors are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is important for a powerful backgame: besides, there is no reason having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to break apart this straight away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other spare checkers to shift! In this case, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your challenger gives you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your opposer to get them in this case!