Priming games

As we stated in our article Early game strategy article you should be concentrating mainly on building blocking points during the opening stage of the game. Blocking points will make it significantly more difficult for your opponent to achieve the second most important early game strategy goal, which is to escape the back checkers. In this article we’ll focus on what is called priming game, i.e. game where the focus is on making several consecutive blocking points - a prime.

This article deals only with regular priming games. Read also our Six point prime article for in-depth strategy with full primes.

Priming game features

Often in priming games both players will have made a four or five-prime with at least two of their checkers trapped behind the opponent’s prime. This creates an interesting situation where both players are trying to retain their primes as long as possible. You should be able to judge accurately whether you are ahead in the game so that you can make the right decisions. Consider the items below when making jour judgement and deciding on your next move.

Size does matter

The bigger, or in this case the longer the prime the better. It is impossible for your opponent to escape his checkers over a six point prime, a five-prime is better than a four-prime, etc. In priming games nothing matters more than the length of your prime.

Back men positions, jumping and hitting

It is much better to have your men at the edge of the prime than having them loose from it. In priming games you need to be as close to the escape route with your back men as possible, so make sure that you get all your men right to the edge of the opponent’s prime.

Generally speaking you should jump over the prime as soon as the possibility arises even though you might leave a blot. The one and only goal in priming games is to keep the opponent’s back men trapped as long as possible and normally you should seize every opportunity to get your own back men out from captivity. There are certain situations when this doesn’t apply but we won’t go that deep in this article.

Just as you will be seeking the opportunity to jump away to safety with your back men, you should also take considerable risks trying to prevent your opponent from jumping over your prime with his checkers. If you can hit a blot at the edge of your prime, do so. You might leave a blot in turn but at least your opponent has now two things to take care (hitting and jumping) instead of one (jump).

Anchors

Normally you should make a point with your back men and thus create an anchor. Ideally, as described above, you would create your anchor at the edge of the opponent’s prime. Anchors act as insurance against your back checkers being closed out with a possible gammon loss.

Timing

Timing is the number of spare movements (or spare pips) you can make before you have to break the prime. When you calculate timing you will assume that you won’t be escaping your back checkers.

Timing is measured by adding up the points your loose checkers can move on the board. For example, if you have a checker on the 14-point, another on the 12-point and three checkers in the prime on the 8-point while your back men would be at the edge of your opponent’s prime on the 21-point, your spare pip count would be 31; you can move 13 points with the checker on the 14-point, 11 points with the checker on the 12-point and 7 points with the checker on the 8-point. 13+11+7=31. In the position below black’s timing in turn is 19. Clearly the advantage is on White’s side.

Before breaking his prime white has a total of 31 spare pips
and black has 19.

The difference between your and the opponent’s timing is an important element, it’ll for example help you decide whether or not to offer a double or accept it should it be offered to you.

Keep in mind, though, that if you jump over the prime with one or more of your checkers your timing will increase because you need to count their spare pips as well.

Doubling

There are two simple rules in a priming game when to double. Double when
a) your opponent’s prime is reduced to fewer than five points, or
b) you have escaped one of your two remaining back checkers.

Change of plans

You want to keep your priming game going as long as possible but sometimes luck turns against you and an unlucky large double will force you to break your prime or jump over your opponent’s prime. In situations like that you should change your plans, often meaning a change to aggressive attacking. By hitting you will win time to either rearrange your prime or to get your other back checker(s) over the prime. In any case, when your priming game collapses (as they sometimes tend to do), change your strategy immediately!

Resigning

Sometimes it might seem impossible to get your back men over the prime deep from your opponent’s home board, when suddenly a chance arises - but it would involve hitting a checker. Think good: are there too many blots of yours around the board your opponent could hit on his way back to his home board? Is it going to be hard for YOU to enter the board & jump again? If yes, you are better off not hitting. If you do hit you could be giving an excellent chance for your opponent to score a gammon or even a backgammon! In such situations sit tight and wait until you can safely take your back men to you home board and bear off at least one checker with a single point loss. As we say in backgammon: “Second place is no disgrace”.