[ English ]

In exceptionally general terms, there are 3 general techniques used. You need to be able to hop between game plans quickly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This is composed of assembling a 6-deep wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to barricade in your opponent’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable course of action at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.

The Blitz

This consists of locking your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your opposer is then in serious difficulty since they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!

The Backgame

This plan is where you have two or higher anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor is a position filled by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are extremely behind as this action greatly improves your opportunities. The strongest areas for anchors are towards your competitor’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 inner board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your competitor is moving their pieces home, because you don’t have any other extra pieces to shift! In this situation, it’s better to have pieces on the bar so that you can maintain your position until your opposer gives you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!