Backgammon anchors: which to make, and when to let go

An anchor is a point you hold with two or more checkers in your opponent's home board: your 19- to 24-points, which are their 6- to 1-points. Because it holds two checkers, it can't be hit, and your opponent can't land there.

You start every game with one: your two back checkers on your 24-point, your opponent's 1-point. It's also the weakest anchor on the board. Much of the early game is about upgrading it: moving the back checkers up to a more useful point, or escaping them altogether.

The word is also used for a point held on your opponent's bar point, your 18-point, just outside their home board. It works like an anchor in most ways, with one difference explained below.

Two checkers on the right point do five jobs at once:

• They can't be hit. Your back checkers stop being targets, which takes much of the force out of an attack such as a blitz.
• You can never be closed out. A closed board needs all six home-board points, and your anchor holds one of them. If you're hit, a die showing your anchor's number always enters: even with every other point made, that's 11 rolls out of 36 (entering from the bar).
• They take a point away from your opponent. They can't make the point you hold, so their home board, and any prime they build, has a hole in it.
• They watch the outfield. Every checker your opponent brings home has to pass your anchor. When one is left alone within reach, you have a shot.
• They lower your gammon risk. With a safe base you're much harder to attack, so the worst outcome, being closed out with several checkers still back, becomes much less likely.

That's why the anchor is the foundation of the holding game, one of the five game plans: when you're behind in the race, it keeps you in the game until a shot comes.

Not all anchors are equal. The further forward an anchor sits, the more of your opponent's outfield it watches and the harder it is to trap. The table compares the six, using nothing but the geometry of the board.

Read the last column first. A checker behind a full prime of six consecutive points can't get past it, and that prime has to stand in front of the anchor. In front of your 24-point, five of your opponent's home-board points can be part of it, the very points they want to make anyway. In front of your 20-point, only their 6-point can: the rest of the wall has to be built in their outer board, which takes far more time and checkers.

The golden anchor: your 20-point

Your opponent's 5-point is their most valuable point, the golden point, so holding it hurts them twice: they can't make it, and your anchor sits right in front of the outfield their checkers must cross. When you have the choice, it's usually the anchor to aim for, especially once their home board gets stronger.

Your 21-point and the bar point

Your 21-point, their 4-point, is the other advanced anchor inside their home board: almost as hard to prime, and it also guarantees you a point to enter on. The bar point, your 18-point, reaches furthest into their outfield, up to their midpoint, but it sits outside their home board: it doesn't give you an entry point and it can't stop a closeout. Which of these two is better depends on the rest of the position: early, while their home board is still weak, the bar point is often the stronger one, sometimes as good as the golden anchor; as their board grows, the missing entry point counts for more.

Deep anchors: your 22-, 23- and 24-points

A deep anchor still keeps your checkers safe and guarantees an entry point, but it sees little of the action: its shots tend to come late, often only while your opponent bears in, and meanwhile you keep falling behind in the race. Treat a deep anchor as a safety net, not as a goal.

The best time to work on an anchor is early, before your opponent has brought builders down to attack in their home board.

• Split when you have nothing better. Moving one back checker up, to your 20- or 21-point, gives you more rolls to make an advanced anchor next turn. Opening rolls such as 5-4 (24/20 13/8) and 3-2 (24/21 13/11) do exactly that: see splitting in the opening.
• Take the anchor when the dice offer it. A double can make it in one go: 4-4 can move both back checkers from your 24-point to your 20-point (24/20(2)), and 3-3 to your 21-point (24/21(2)). Whether that's the best use of the double depends on the rest of the board.
• Anchor when you're under attack. When your opponent has several checkers aimed at your blots in their home board, making a point there often matters more than anything else you could do: once you hold it, the attack loses much of its force.
• Don't leave it too late. The longer your back checkers stay split and alone, the more time your opponent has to attack them or to build points in front of them.

An anchor isn't a parking spot. While it holds, the rest of your position decides whether the shot you're waiting for will be worth anything when it comes.

• Keep building your home board. A hit is only strong if the checker you hit has trouble coming back in. Make points at home, so that a late shot can win the game rather than just slow it down.
• Keep your midpoint while you can. Your 13-point gives your other checkers a safe landing spot on the way home, and together with the anchor it covers more of your opponent's outfield.
• Know where the shots come from. To come home past your anchor, your opponent has to clear their midpoint and their outer-board points. That's when blots tend to appear, so use the direct range in the table to see which points you watch.
• Watch your timing. If every other checker of yours is already home, you may have to break your board, or the anchor itself, before any shot comes. Spare checkers still on their way keep your timing.

For the game plan — when to hold, wait, hit, and how the cube tends to go — see the backgammon holding game.

Every anchor has to be given up one day: you can't win with two checkers left in your opponent's home board. The question is when. Leave too early and your back checkers lose their base; stay too late and they can end up stuck behind a prime while your home board falls apart.

Count the race first (how to count pips). Then these are the usual reasons to leave:

• You're clearly ahead in the race, or a big roll puts you there. A double such as 6-6 or 5-5 can move both checkers out at once and turn a holding game into a race you lead.
• You can hit on the way out. Leaving while your opponent has a checker on the bar is far safer than leaving with nothing: they have to spend their next roll coming in.
• Keeping it would wreck your board. If the only way to hold the anchor is to break your home-board points, the anchor has lost most of its value: a shot you can't contain is worth little.
• It no longer does its job. When your opponent has brought their checkers home safely and you're far behind, the anchor can still wait for a shot during their bear-off, but your gammon risk grows the longer you stay. Weigh the two.

Sometimes you end up with two anchors in your opponent's home board, usually deep ones, after being hit several times. That's a back game: you're far behind in the race, and your plan is a late shot.

It works only with good timing, and when it fails it often fails badly, with a real risk of losing a gammon. It's a plan you fall into rather than one you aim for. Our full guide explains which pair of anchors to hold, how timing works and when to give it up: the backgammon back game.

The tables turn when your opponent holds the anchor. Three adjustments help:

• Stop the blitz, start the prime. An all-out attack loses much of its point once they're anchored: you can't close them out any more (see backgammon blitz). Build points in front of the anchor instead, as in backgammon priming.
• Bring your checkers home safely. Every blot within six pips in front of their anchor is a direct shot. Plan which points you clear and in what order, so that you leave as few shots as you can.
• Bear in and off carefully. As long as they hold the anchor, a single blot can be hit and sent all the way round. Safety comes before speed: see bearing off against contact.

• Staying on your 24-point too long. The anchor you start with is the easiest one to prime. Work on moving your back checkers up early.
• Running from an anchor while behind in the race. Count first. If you're behind, the anchor is what keeps you in the game.
• Holding the anchor at any price. If keeping it costs you your home board, the shot you're waiting for will be worth little.
• Forgetting your timing. Waiting with nothing else to move forces you to break something valuable.
• Leaving shots in front of an opponent's anchor. A blot within six pips of it is a direct shot, hit by 11 to 17 rolls out of 36 on an open board (the chance of hitting a blot).
• Blitzing an anchored opponent. Once they hold an anchor, you can't close them out: switch to building a prime. See common beginner mistakes for the others.

Anchors are about judgment: when to make one, when to keep it, when to go. Three habits help:

• Name your anchor. In each game, notice which anchor you hold and which one you could reach. Is it advanced or deep?
• Count before you run. Before giving up an anchor, count the race and ask whether you could still contain a checker you hit.
• Review the turning point. After a game, find the turn where you made, kept or gave up your anchor. Was the timing right?

An anchor is a decision about the race and the board at once. To read both, see our backgammon strategy guide.