Bill Robertie’s Blog

A Short History of Modern Backgammon

Mar 30, 2016 | Backgammon Generally

If you’re new to backgammon, you might wonder how the game took on the form it has, with many books and websites available and tournaments all over the world. In this post I’ll give you a short history of the growth and development of backgammon since 1920, when the game began to take on its modern form. Enjoy!

Position or Race?

Mar 17, 2016 | Learning Backgammon

In this position, with Black on roll, who is a favorite?

White – Pips 161

Black – Pips 140
Black on roll. Who’s a favorite? read more…

Holding Game Doubles

Feb 8, 2016 | Backgammon Problems: Holding Game

Last article, we talked about some of the tricky play problems that arise in high anchor positions. This time, we’ll start to look at doubling strategy in these common situations. (Remember, a high anchor game is one where one player has escaped all his back checkers, while his opponent has managed to secure an anchor on the 4-point or 5-point.)

High Anchor Holding Games

Feb 4, 2016 | Backgammon Problems: Holding Game

Next to races, the most common type of position in backgammon is what we call the holding game. Holding games occur when one side escapes his back checkers to the safety of the midpoint or beyond, but the other side (the “defender”) does not. Instead, the defender manages to anchor his two back checkers somewhere in his opponent’s home board.