In very general terms, there are 3 fundamental techniques employed. You must be able to switch game plans almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves assembling a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at a minimum as deep as you can manage, to lock in the opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate course of action at the begining of the match. You can assemble the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your two-point and then shift it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as quick as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your challenger tosses an early 2 and shifts one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is then in big-time dire straits seeing that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This course of action is where you have two or more anchors in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point filled by at least two of your pieces.) It would be employed when you are significantly behind as this action greatly improves your chances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are close to your opponent’s lower points and also on abutting points or with one point separating them. Timing is integral for a powerful 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 down this straight away, while your competitor is shifting their pieces home, taking into account that you don’t have any other spare checkers to move! In this case, it is better to have checkers on the bar so that you can maintain your position up until your opponent provides you a chance to hit, so it may be a good idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this case!