Responses to opening moves

We have shown above around 25 or so possible opening moves (based on 15 possible opening die rolls). There are 22 die rolls for the responder, each of which could generate around two good moves, giving 44 in total. There will be many more permutations if all possible moves are analysed. If we multiply 44 responses to 25 openers there are around 1,100 possible opening/responding combinations. We’re not suggesting you learn all of these (!) but a few principles are still worth remembering.

In many cases your normal opening move is often the best solution regardless of your opponents’ opener. However, there is a vast number of exceptions to this rule. Tom Keith’s general principles are as follows:

• If you can, hit a blot on the opponent’s side of the board, rather than one on your side (better from a pipcount perspective). This sets you up as the pip leader, which leads both sides to prepare different strategies. Pipcounts are a simple measure of how far ahead you are in the race around the board and are clearly shown on the table
• A little more scary perhaps, but it is better to knock your opponent off your five point rather than make a base in your home board. Don’t let them get an advanced anchor
• Hitting two blots can work well
• Mirror your opponent's play with similar dice rolls
• Split your back checkers to try for an advanced anchor
• If opponent has split checkers, be careful at leaving indirect shots
• If playing to make a gammon, aggressive play is called for (and vice versa) and try to build your home board as soon as possible
• If your opponent makes a home board point with his first roll, split your checkers and try to make an advanced anchor as soon as possible

For the full set of responses to opening moves judged by Gnu Backgammon, see Tom Keith’s site: Click here.