In astonishingly simple terms, there are three fundamental plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between techniques almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.
The Blockade
This comprises of assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to barricade in the competitor’s pieces that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable procedure at the begining of the match. You can build the wall anyplace within your 11-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.
The Blitz
This is comprised of locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opponent tosses an early two and shifts one piece from your 1-point to your three-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play six/one 6/1 eight/three eight/three. Your competitor is then in big-time calamity seeing that they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have closed half your inner board!
The Backgame
This strategy is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a position occupied by at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It must be employed when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your opportunities. The best places for anchors are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for an effective backgame: after all, there is no reason having two nice anchor spots and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break apart this straight away, while your opposer is moving their checkers home, taking into account that you don’t have any other additional checkers to shift! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up till your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it will be a good idea to try and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!