by Harry Lamer

Created on: May 23, 2008

There is always going to be an element of luck involved when playing Backgammon, but there are also well-documented strategies that will give one an edge in the course of the game.

Many beginners play with a safety first mindset, which means playing their checkers as far as possible onto a safe point where they cannot be hit. Unfortunately, one can hardly expect not to expose any of his pieces during the game at all. Adopting this strategy on the other hand, means that you have little chance to develop more safety points beyond the conventional 3-1, 4-2, 5-3 and 6-4 rolls of the die. It leaves you especially vulnerable towards the mid and end game when your opponent has likely set up a prime (consecutive series of safe points) at or close to his home board, which conversely makes it more difficult for you to escape to the outer board or leave the bar when you finally do get hit.

On the contrary, getting hit in the opening stages of the game, when your opponent's pieces are not developed enough to block your movement, is hardly a disaster. As such, I have found it more beneficial to open my game with the idea to develop my pieces rather than to either "play safe" or just "run for it". To still ensure a level of safety, I try to expose my pieces (called a blot, with a single checker lying on a point) beyond 6 paces from my opponent's pieces. Remember, if within 6 paces, you have 2 chances out of 6 to roll the requisite number to score a hit, as compared to trying to roll a number higher than 6, which cannot be better than a 1 out of 6 chance. My strategy is thus built upon these probabilities as well.

Wikipedia already has a fairly useful article on opening plays:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon_openin g_theory

However, I would like to put in my two cents worth and commentary on each possible roll. As a slight departure from the norm, I will also comment on the possible opening moves for the second player (ie. your opening move after opponent's first move, which includes double rolls).

For consistency's sake, I will be using the Backgammon notation developed by Paul Magriel. Your game starts from point 24 down to point 1, while opponent plays from 1 to 24. Notation A-B' refers to the results of the roll of the dice, while notations of C/D' refer to movement of a checker from point C to point D.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon_notation)

Rol l 1-2
Play 13/11; 24/23
This obviously results in 3 blots, but the blots at 24 and 23 are hardly worth hitting unless

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>