Backloaded vs. Frontloaded

Hello there backgammon fans! I'm Marc Olsen. In this blog post, you're going to learn about backloaded spare checkers versus frontloaded spare checkers.

Let's have a look at this position here:

Blue has a four prime. This is kind of a middle game position. Both players have two back checkers and both players have got an anchor. Blue is slightly more advanced on the three-point, while White is on the two-point. And Blue’s structure is a little bit better because he has a pure four prime, where White has a gap. So he doesn't really have a four prime just yet.

What we're going to discuss in this blog post is the formation or the desired formation of your spare checker. A spare checker is the checker you put on the point where you already have two checkers. So, if you already own a point with two checkers, and you put a third checker there, that's a spare checker. You get a stack if you put three or more than three checkers on a point that you already own. In other words, a stack is a point with five checkers or more.

The position you will see below is actually the worst possible way to put these three spare checkers:

The least desirable frontloaded spare checker distribution

This is an undesirable spare checker distribution. The strategic rule of thumb we should bear in mind is that it is more preferable to place our spare checkers in a more backloaded distribution because it gives us more flexibility, and the checkers are more useful in the long run. It has more options.

Here is a more desirable position with backloaded spare checker distribution.

Backloaded spare checker distribution

You can basically play all numbers there except for a six. You can play the fives, you can play the fours, you can play the threes, you can play the twos, and you can play the aces. In a backloaded position like that, you've got all of your dice combinations playable. On the other hand, if you opt for a distribution like this one below, a more frontloaded structure, you will have less flexibility:

In this undesirable spare checker distribution, fewer dice numbers can be used in order to develop your position.

Spare Checker Distribution Options for Holding Games

We can encounter this concept again and again in all kinds of positions. For instance, it can be seen in a holding game. Let's create a position where White has a holding game:

In the position above, we've got a holding game because Blue has escaped all of his back checkers. Now he's trying to bring his checkers home. White has a holding game because he's got the anchor where he's holding Blue. He's waiting for that turnaround shot. The same strategic rule of thumb applies in this holding game: the more backloaded your spare checkers are, the more flexibility you have.

For example, imagine that we switched two spare checkers of Blue over here:

That move would be a loss in flexibility. If we put even more checkers, it will bring about a greater loss in flexibility. The example you will see right below is actually quite an ugly spare checker distribution:

A much nicer and more robust distribution would be something like this:

Overall, what you can understand from this post in a concise way is that backloaded spare checkers are more desirable than frontloaded spare checkers. I hope this blog post provided you with clear points regarding backloaded and frontloaded positions. Don’t forget to put into use what you learn with each blog post!

You can see the full video here!