Early game strategy

Backgammon is a tactical game that requires players to be able to change their strategy within moments. Sometimes you need to play conservative and constructive, other times require an aggressive attitude. In the very early stages in the game is such a moment when you really need to be aggressive, quick and determined. Achieve your early game goals quickly and you are on your way to winning the game.

The two early game goals

1. Build blocking points on your home board

This is smart for two reasons. First of all it makes your opponents life much more difficult. It is not fun to end up on the bar when entering is difficult. Even if you only have one or two points covered, it will severely limit your opponents choices on the turn he enters from the bar. The second reason is that when you make points on your home board, your checkers are ready for being beared off.

Keep in mind that not all points are equal though. You don’t want to make points right on the edge of the board, as these checkers cannot be maneuvered any further. Think of the home board points this way:

• five point is gold
• the points next to it are silver (four and six)
• the points next to the silver points are bronze (seven and three)

If you can’t take points on your home board, make points as near to it as you can. Block points 7-12 and note how it makes it very difficult for your opponent to escape his back checkers. Points 7-12 can also be used as reserve ammunition: with a good roll you can use checkers from those points to hit escaping back checkers or cover points on on your home board.

2. Escape your back checkers

Don’t forget your two back checkers. If they get blocked, you are not going to win no matter how well you play otherwise!

Move the back checkers forward early on to keep them in contact with the rest of your checkers. You don’t want them to lose contact (ie. be over six points away) from the rest of your checkers. Losing contact leaves the back checkers vulnerable for attacks and blocking.

Couple of tips about moving your your back checkers:
If you roll a double, use half of the roll to move the two back checkers forward. This way they move on the same turn and are not in any danger of getting hit. Using both of the rolls to move your back checkers is somewhat wasteful, though. You should use the other half of the double to make some important point elsewhere on the board. With a small double (ones - threes) it may even be wise to make two points and worry about the back checkers bit later.

You often roll combinations where you can really use only one of the numbers rolled - the other one would leave other checkers too vulnerable. In that case use that other number to split your back checkers! It is always a little risky to split them, but you don’t win any backgammon matches without taking risks. After splitting your back checkers get them together again as soon as you can. Leaving them split will hinder your game, as your opponent can attack them and force you to spend time bringing them back into the game from the bar.

Final words

When you do reach your early game goals you can really look at the game ahead of you with confidence and concentrate on the essentials instead of firefighting problems that seem to be appearing out of nowhere. Those seemingly random problems are often just a result of a bad start, so keep it cool, stay focused and take the initiative by playing aggressively from the first roll and your on your way to winning many, many games!