In astonishingly general terms, there are 3 main techniques employed. You must be agile enough to switch techniques almost instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This is composed of building a 6-thick wall of pieces, or at least as thick as you might achieve, to block in your competitor’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate course of action at the start of the match. You can build the wall anyplace between your eleven-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as fast as possible while keeping your challenger on the bar. For example, if your opposer tosses an early two and shifts one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then roll a 5-5, you are able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your challenger is then in big-time dire straits taking into account that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have 2 or more checkers in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a position consisting of at a minimum two of your checkers.) It would be played when you are decidedly behind as it greatly improves your chances. The best locations for anchors are towards your competitor’s lower points and also on abutting points or with a single point separating them. Timing is essential for a powerful backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no reason having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break down this right away, while your opposer is moving their pieces home, because you don’t have other spare checkers to shift! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position until your competitor provides you an opportunity to hit, so it can be a wonderful idea to try and get your opposer to get them in this case!