In astonishingly simple terms, there are three chief strategies employed. You must be agile enough to switch strategies quickly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This is comprised of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you are able to manage, to lock in the opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most suitable tactic at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your two-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game continues.
The Blitz
This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opponent tosses an early two and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opposer is then in big-time calamity seeing that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your home board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have two or higher checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It would be used when you are extremely behind as this strategy much improves your opportunities. The strongest locations for anchors are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjacent points or with a single point in between. Timing is crucial for an effective backgame: besides, there is no point having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to dismantle this right away, while your challenger is shifting their checkers home, seeing that you don’t have any other extra pieces to move! In this case, it’s more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position up till your competitor gives you a chance to hit, so it will be an excellent idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!
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