In astonishingly simple terms, there are 3 chief techniques employed. You must be agile enough to hop between game plans instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This comprises of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at least as deep as you can achieve, to block in your competitor’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most acceptable tactic at the start of the game. You can create the wall anyplace within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This involves locking your home board as quick as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your competitor rolls an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you are able to play 6/1 six/one eight/three eight/three. Your competitor is now in big-time difficulty since they have two pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!

The Backgame

This tactic is where you have two or more pieces in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your checkers.) It should be played when you are significantly behind as this plan much improves your circumstances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are near your opponent’s lower points and either on adjoining points or with a single point in between. Timing is important for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchors and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then forced to break apart this straight away, while your opposer is moving their checkers home, owing to the fact that you don’t have other extra checkers to move! In this case, it’s more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you might preserve your position until your challenger provides you a chance to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your competitor to hit them in this situation!