Bear off is the final part of a backgammon game. It may come as a surprise to beginner backgammon players that most backgammon games don’t last until all checkers have been borne off and if the game didn’t end to either player passing a double before the endgame, chances are good that the game will end to a double or redouble during bear off. It is therefore important for a beginner backgammon player to know how you should execute your endgame and what are the correct actions in the most common doubling situations during bear off.

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As online backgammon popularity is increasing by the day it is a good moment to revisit hypergammon, one of the most popular variants of backgammon. In this article we will go through hypergammon rules and strategy of this very fast and exciting game.

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Last time we went through the game tactics on how to save the gammon. Now we can look at the other side of the coin; the situation when you can and should push for a gammon win. It is important that you are able to recognize the window of opportunity when to play for a gammon and that you are familiar at least with the essentials of the tactics. A well executed gammon win can effectively demoralize your online backgammon opponents and smoothen your way to a match win.

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Have a look at the picture below. Black is to play 4-4, what is the correct move? If you think it is to escape the two back men by playing 23/15 (2), well, it’s not. If you are wondering why, read on. This time it’s about optimized backgammon damage control.

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Backgammon offers a great variety of strategies that can be applied in a number of situations. Still, many games end up in a race and there are a lot of players who enter a race at the earliest possibility. Only God knows what kind of kick they get out of it, one would think that a full-steam Blitz or priming game would offer a much more interesting game. Nevertheless, many games do end up in a race regardless whether you want to avoid it or not and since chances are that you’ll meet a lot of players on your favorite online backgammon site who just love an old-fashioned race, here it comes: how to play a Race.

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The blitz is a backgammon strategy many backgammon players describe as one of the most exciting backgammon strategies around. It involves aggressive attacking and when well executed the defender can’t do much except hope for the best. Gammons and dramatic swings of fortune are also at the very heart of a blitz and make interesting online backgammon matches.

This article teaches you how to recognize a starting blitz, what are the objectives on both sides and how to reach those objectives, as well as the key doubling strategies involved in a typical blitz.

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As promised in the first part of our Backgame article we continue now with the advanced strategical elements of a backgame. If you haven’t read the first part yet, read the Introduction to Backgame article. In this second part we will have a closer look at timing, doubling strategies and various anchor positions in a backgame.

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After a couple of slightly lighter off-topic game reviews it is time to get back to real online backgammon business. In this article we introduce you a typical backgammon situation called backgame and look at the basic strategies both for the leading and the trailing player.

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In the first part of this aricle, Holding game basic strategy, we explained how to recognize a holding game and went through the basic plays of a holding game. In this article we analyze various holding game situations and explain the applicable strategies. Special attention is paid to doubling action as normally in holding games one player is a clear underdog. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the race trailer should immediately pass on the cube, though.

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Diversification is the opposite of duplication; while in duplication you are trying to minimize the your opponent’s good rolls the next turn, diversification aims at maximising your own good rolls on your next turn. For a deeper explanation of duplication, read our duplication article.

Next, take a good look at the picture below and try to figure out what is the correct play for white after having rolled 5-4, keeping diversification in mind.

When you are ready, read on.

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