by Mario Carini

Created on: February 15, 2009

Curling has been called "Chess on ice". And for good reason. It's not just about throwing rocks down 148 feet of ice and hoping it gets into the target zone in the "house". Once you watch a game being played you can begin to understand the roles of the players and how they impact the outcome of the game. Curling has as much to do in playing skill as in the strategy necessary to win every end (round).

The lead is the first player to throw. Unless he is asked to do so by the skip, he usually sets the rock as a guard between the "hog line" and the "house" where the three circles are located. He may also draw up to an opposing rock to make a take-out difficult for the player of the other team. The purpose of setting up a guard is so the player of the other team has difficulty in getting a rock behind the guard and into the house without the chance of knocking the guard into the house, a scenario best avoided. Generally the lead of the other team is instructed to knock out any guards to keep the ice clean for play.

If the ice does become cluttered with rocks, the second usually is required to clear out the rocks, taking special care to knock out enemy stones only or send his rock to deflect off enemy stones and hit favorable stones into the house, hopefully behind friendly rocks that can act as guards for the new stone. If this occurs, it makes it harder or impossible for the enemy player to remove the stone(s) inside the house. This is where strategy plays an important part. It then becomes the duty of both the third and the skip to decide on a strategy to either clear the guards without worsening the position (a useful strategy only if the team still has a few more rocks to play) or try to draw a rock behind enemy rocks and closest to the center where it can count as a point. Sometimes there is no other option but to send a rock flying into the mass to clear a path for the skip so he can throw the last rocks to win the round.

The skip who has the last rock to play is at a distinct advantage as he can draw his last rock closer to the center and have it count as a point. For example, if he manages to draw his rock to the smallest circle while there are three enemy rocks inside the house, his rock counts a point and the three enemy rocks do not. The closest rock(s) to the center always count, no matter how many enemy rocks may sit in the house. If a skip is particularly skilled, he can achieve the objective and his team scores a point for every rock closest to the center of the house.

However, the skip may not decide to play a rock into the house, conceding a point to the other team if the other team has no more than one rock to score. This can be a good strategy as the losing team gets to play the last rock in the next round and that can mean more points. This is much the same strategy employed by chess-masters who sacrifice an important piece if the act will lead to a better board position and ultimately a win.

Strategy means knowing the best position of the rocks in play and depends on the skills of the players to deliver their rocks in accordance to the skip's wishes. All players must work in harmony toward the same goal, to win the game. As in chess, one rock misplayed could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

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