Foundational Goals at the Opening Play
Beginners often play backgammon with a special note on safety. Here are a couple of tips to add to this strategy. This may help beginners shift their gears forward. These are goals any player can achieve early in the opening play.
Everyone begins backgammon with a basic notion. First is that the main objective of the game is simply like a race. The goal would be to have all our checkers finish first. After which we as beginners tend to add to this concept.
The next lesson we learn is about hitting. Yes, the goal of the game is like that of a race. But unlike any ordinary race this game would allow us to send the other fellow back to the starting line and delay him. That's not a bad idea to achieve our goal.
So we learn about blots, those single checkers lying out there on the board. We also learn about blocks. These are made up of at least 2 checkers on a single point. One good goal in the opening play therefore would be to set up our blocks and avoid blots. Seems like a very reasonable goal for the opening play.
The next trick we get to learn now is where to position those blocks. Making blocks at the right positions in the opening play adds a huge advantage to a player. Not all points on the game board are equally valuable when it comes to strategy. Some points are very important both as an offensive position and as a defensive position.
The most important point during the opening play would be your 5 point. Early in the game when you have an opportunity to seize the 5 point take it. Build your block right there. That is one important goal we all should keep in our minds.
The other valuable points to build blocks on would be the 4 and the 6 points. The 7 up to the 12 points are really valuable for another type of strategy. Having these points covered or blocked would be a great goal during the opening play. These blocks serve as a trap for our opponent's back checkers.
Other than a good blockade, blocks at these points also serve as well poised attackers. They can be used to hit the opponent's checkers especially his back men. Other than a being a serious hindrance to the opponent's movement, these become the tools to hit the opposing checkers. These are two basic logical goals that would be in the mind of every beginner.
Since we've talked about back men and impeding their movement, another good goal is get your own back checkers going and let them escape when they can. When we have an opening roll of 6 and a 6 it would be a good suggestion to begin with escaping our back men.
These two goals during the opening play serve as a good foundation that beginners can build their strategies on. Well-positioned blocks and moving the back men make great goals for the opening play.