In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 basic strategies used. You want to be agile enough to switch techniques almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you can achieve, to block in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable strategy at the start of the match. You can assemble the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.
The Blitz
This is composed of closing your home board as fast as as you can while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your challenger rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you will be able to play six/one 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your opposer is then in serious difficulty because they have two checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This tactic is where you have 2 or higher pieces in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are significantly behind as it greatly improves your opportunities. The best locations for anchors are near your competitor’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with one point in between. Timing is critical for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break up this straight away, while your challenger is moving their pieces home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other additional pieces to move! In this situation, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up until your opposer provides you a chance to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to attempt and get your opponent to hit them in this case!
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.