In very general terms, there are 3 general techniques employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between strategies almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of creating a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you are able to manage, to barricade in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is judged to be the most suitable course of action at the start of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere inbetween your 11-point and your two-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.

The Blitz

This is composed of closing your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. For example, if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then toss a five-five, you can play 6/1 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your opponent is now in big-time dire straits since they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have 2 or more checkers in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position consisting of at least 2 of your checkers.) It needs to be played when you are significantly behind as this plan much improves your circumstances. The best locations for anchor spots are near your competitor’s smaller points and also on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for a competent backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having 2 nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own home board if you are then required to dismantle this straight away, while your competitor is getting their pieces home, considering that you don’t have other additional pieces to move! In this case, it is more tolerable to have checkers on the bar so that you might maintain your position until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a wonderful idea to attempt and get your competitor to hit them in this case!