Attacks of Opportunity

Backgammon is a race. Whoever gets their checkers off the board first wins. Because of this, you want to be moving your checkers to your home as quickly as possible, and you don't want to get hung up on trying to remove your opponent's checkers. However, you can do so, and you should, but only when the opportunity arises, and it is a beneficial one.

First off, you shouldn't start attacking your opponent's checkers if your home is full of singles. Your opponent will simply come back and knock these out, putting you in a worse position than you began in. You want your home to be secure before you start attacking your opponent.

Now, if your home is protected, you need to look at where you're going and where your opponent is. It's better to knock out his checkers close to home than it is to knock out ones that are in his high positions. High position checkers have a way to go before he or she guards them in his or her home, while the ones close to home have already made the long trip around the board, and knocking them out will slow your opponent down much more than knocking out the ones in his high positions.

You should also try to have your home as full as possible before doing so. This will make it more difficult for your opponent to bring his pieces back on the board. He or she will be frustrated and might lose valuable rolls because you have trapped his or her pieces off the board and allowed them no opportunity to return.

Just remember that more than anything else, Backgammon is a race, and you only want to start hamstringing your opponent when you can protect your own pieces.