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Advanced Backgammon 101: Advanced Backgame
Backgammon is not a chips game, but a race. Players are faced with deciding on whether to move forward to win or to give way and wait for a good opportunity before making a hit.
There are times that a player may choose or sometimes be obliged to wait for the right timing; this is termed as a backgame. Backgame is an early strategy used in playing backgammon which is believed to be a defensive form of playing the game. Thus, backgame was incorporated and used.
A backgame strategy is distinctively composed of a defensive formation that utilizes more than two anchors. The game plan for a backgame is to hold one's points as necessary in order for the opponent to bear off /in, hit a delayed shot and hold the blot.
Generally, the backgammon anchors are quite close in a backgame; anchors such as 1-2, 2-3, 1-3, 2-4. Holding these anchors allows a player for his prime to hold the chips he will hit and delays the winning shot until the player could make his hit. There are circumstances that the two anchors of a defensive formation are not as close as the usual like the anchors 1-4, 2-5, 1-5. There also advanced anchors such as 3-4, 4-5, 3-5. Either of the anchors is still considered a backgame, but the more favorable anchor to strategize a backgame is with the close anchors.
A general assumption: when the anchors are not as close, one of which will be lost and the game continues as a close anchor game or a holding game; when the anchors are quite advanced, one of which is usually lost and the game continues as a one-anchor holding game.
If a circumstantial 1-5 game occurs, normally it is impossible to hold both points unless a shot if left by the opponent. It is a slim chance to see this happening and the strategy is not as intimidating to the opponent compared to a deep anchor backgame. There are two options to this circumstance: the player can hold the 5-point and give up the 1-point, but he loses the race; or he can give up the 5-point, allows a 1-point prime and be gammoned in the process.
A backgame can also consist of more than 3 anchors and the event of winning is higher in this type of defensive formation. On the other hand, if a player made a shot on a haste, he's either gammoned or losses at a backgammon.
Circumstantial "large backgame" can occur, but this can be prevented if a player is cautious enough not to allow the opponent to get too many chips back. It is important to study the backgammon at this event before making the shot. It is essential to look at the number of chips and if they are beneficial or not, the forward structure of each players, and the critical timing before making the shot.