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When playing backgammon, playing the opening roll has a great affect as to the reminder of the game and many experts agree that one of the basic strategy in backgammon is knowing the correct opening moves. Lets review the opening moves in backgammon.
The oldest known game in the history of mankind is Backgammon. Throughout the history of the game experts backgammon players from all over the world have analyzed each possible move, putting special emphasis on the backgammon opening moves. The results of these studies into the backgammon opening moves have agreed upon certain opening moves are universally correct. This, of course, serves to the benefit of beginners to the game of backgammon since any novice can always be sure that he is making the right backgammon opening move.

·6-6 - will allow you to close both your and your opponents 7 points.

·5-5 - you should always move 2 pieces from your midpoint (12 point) to your 3-point.

·4-4 - you can create with ease an anchor on your opponents 5 point and your own 9 point.

·3-3 - will help you make your 5 point and your opponents 4 point.

·2-2 - can help you close the 5 point of your opponent by moving your back pieces twice.

·1-1 - one of the greatest combinations to start with as you can close both your 7 point and your 5 point, two of the most important pieces on the board.

One of the best opening moves would be 3-1 as it will allow you to close your 5 point. An opening move of 6-1 will close the 7 point and a 4-2 opening move will close the 4 point. If your opening move is 5-4, 5-3, 5-2, 4-3 and 3-2 you should move two checkers from your midpoint; however an opening move of 2-3, 4-5 and 4-3 can be used to close one of the opponent's points and move one checker from the midpoint. An opening move of 5-4 can alternatively move one of the back pieces nine points ahead.

The opening moves of 6-5, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2 most of the time should move one of the back pieces using both dices. In addition you can also move one checker from the back to your opponent's 7 point and move another checker from the midpoint. Even today, after countless years of play and study, expert players still debate on what you should do with the 6-2 opening move, even so many are inclined on moving one piece from the midpoint and slot the 5 point.


With the opening rolls of 2-1, 4-1 and 5-1 you can split your back pieces in your opponents home board or slot the 5 point and move one piece from the midpoint with the reminder dice.

By knowing your Backgammonopening moves you are already getting a head start on your opponent and eventually the game.

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When there is only one checker on a point (a blot), it might be hit by the opponent and end up on the bar. However, when there are two or more checkers on a point, they cannot be hit. Moreover, they sometimes block the opponent and prevent him from progressing in the game.

In backgammon, the first player to bear off his checkers is the winner. It seems that the best strategy is to try to hit as much as possible, and on the other hand, to ensure that your own men are not alone on a point, so that you will not be hit. However, this strategy, used by most beginners, proves to be wrong. Here are some considerations you should take into account when attempting to establish a winning strategy.
Distribution

Distribution is the division of a player's checkers among his owned points. A good strategy is to divide the checkers as evenly as possible among one's owned points. A player who does so will have a much better chance of winning.

Exposure

If you wish to create a strong line of attack or defense, you should leave shots in the early stages of the game. However, watch your steps as your enemy's home board is strengthened, because you will have a much harder time re-entering from the bar if most of the points are owned by the opponent.

On the other hand, you can take more risks if you control many of the points in your opponent's home board (anchors). You should try to have no more than four blots, despite the fact that his board is weak. The leader of the game should try to keep his winning status by limiting his exposure to the opponent's hits.

Blocking and Priming

A prime is formed when there are six points in a row. This structure is formed in order to trap the opponent, and it is advisable to create it in the early stages of the game, so as to have a significant advantage over the opponent.

Hitting

When hitting a checker, you should consider if it will benefit you in any way. Checkers which are a good hit are those that are closest to the opponent's home board or those that may become a significant owned point for the opponent once they are covered.

Make reasonable decisions. For instance, sometimes making another point in your home board may be more important than hitting your opponent. Moreover, avoid hitting your opponent when it may weaken you. Try to see clearly and look one step ahead. However, if you are not sure of your next move, hitting can (almost) never hurt.

Anchoring

Some players set up a protective point (anchor) in the opponent's home board. This is called anchoring. Anchoring provides you with a place to land if you get hit. It also holds your opponent back from his home board. In the first part of the game, try to create anchors on the higher points (20,21). If you are losing the game, the lower points (22,23,24) are more worthy, since building your home board and waiting for a shot should be your basic concern. It is best to have your anchors on adjoining points.

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In this article and a few to follow we are going to go back to the fundamentals of backgammon and examine how to play the Backgammon opening rolls. As with other games of skill, the opening roll goes a long way towards shaping the game that will follow.

Just like with other games, in backgammon we will see that certain opening rolls can be played aggressively or played passively. The opening roll that you decide to play will depend on the current game situation.

Before we can discuss the different types of opening rolls we must first consider the main objective of the game. Basically, backgammon is a race for home, however, if that was the point of the game then nobody would play it. Even if in the end the race will decide the winner there are many other issues and strategies within the game. To get ahead in the game, we need to create safe landing spots for our checkers, i.e. make points. Another major objective of the game is to hold back your opponent as much as you can. The ideal thing to do would be to trap one or more of his checkers behind a strong blockade. This is called a prime. A prime is a set of contiguous points, where the ultimate is a full prime – six points in a row. While a six-point prime would be ideal, five-point and four-point primes are also very strong.
So our basic goals at the beginning of the game are to create new points – preferably natural numbers (6-1,4-2,5-3) that easily form part of a prime and to begin a race for home. When starting the race for home, the most difficult checkers to get home are the two furthest away at the start of the game, i.e. the two checkers on our opponent’s ace-point. Because of this, it would be highly in our favor to move those checkers in the opening roll, the two checkers on the ace-point. Another important objective is to unstack our heavy points. During the inital set-up, we position 5 checkers on our mid-point (13-pt) and our 6-pt. Five checkers on a single point does not help us in any way so we want to spread and use those checkers as quickly as we can.

36 rolls of the two dice are possible. Each number combination can occur twice, except doubles. For example, 62 can be thrown as a 6 on the first dice and a 2 on the second dice or as a 2 on the first dice and a 6 on the second dice. Excluding the doubles – as those can never be an opening roll – then there are actually only 15 rolls to consider. These 15 opening rolls are put into four groups:

Rolls that are always played the same (5): 31, 42, 53, 61, 65 Rolls on which there is a consensus (2): 62, 63 Slot or split rolls (3): 21, 41, 51 Rolls that are debated: 32, 43, 52, 54, 64

If you think about it, it is quite shocking that after 3,000 years of play some of the opening rolls are still under dispute!

In the next page of this article we will describe specific Backgammon Opening Rolls and how to play them.

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