How a game of Narde ends is stated briefly on the strategy page. Here is the last third of the game in detail: when to leave for Home, where to put checkers as they come in, and where a game loses moves after it already looks won.
This part forgives the least. Moving checkers wrongly inside the Home and just before it is the main endgame mistake, and the position looks won right up to the last roll.
When to leave for Home
There is one clear sign: as soon as it is obvious that no Mars is coming — he will get his checkers out anyway, the fence never stood — the fight moves Home. Holding on past that point costs more than leaving early.
Rebuild in one go rather than a checker at a time at the end. Going Home alongside your opponent, you spend your reserve of moves when he spends his; going later, you arrive at the bear-off with no spare moves while he still has some.
Do not overdo it either. When you free his base for better points at Home, leave at least one occupied point there — a bridge for your checkers to come in over. Without the bridge he builds a barrier and there is nothing left to come in on.
Where to bring checkers in
The Home splits into two zones, and the difference between them is measured in wasted pips.
The upper zone is the points farthest from the exit — the ones a checker comes off with a six, a five or a four. That is where checkers belong.
The lower zone is the near points. A checker that lands there early comes off with a one or a two, and anything larger is spent for nothing. There is one exception: checkers forced there in the middle game.
An evenly built Home: checkers stand on the far points and the near ones alike, and any number that comes up takes a checker off.
The same Home built into the lower zone: the marked points are empty, and anything above a three is spent shuffling inside the Home.
Three rules follow:
- Bring checkers Home at the first opportunity — exceptions are rare and involve important targets elsewhere on the board.
- Do not create gaps. A big difference in the number of checkers on neighbouring points is a future loss: on an empty point the number is wasted.
- Play small numbers with the near checkers. A two played by a distant checker is thrown away; distant checkers need large numbers.
Checkers inside the Home are not shuffled for nothing: moving within the Home, or coming in deep in one go, most often ends in wasted pips.
The more convenient bear-off points you occupy, the better your chances. The reverse holds too: points taken badly make checkers pile up badly — they gather where they are hard to take off.
Where the pips go
The rule is simple: a direct bear-off wastes nothing. The number comes up, a checker stands on that point, the checker comes off, the pips are spent in full.
Waste begins when a large number comes up and the far points are already empty: there is nothing to take off, and the move is spent shuffling inside the Home. That is why waste is considered in advance, while checkers are still coming in, not once the bear-off has started.
The exception to the direct rule is a lone checker on a far point: taking it off at once is not always best.
A small thing that often saves a game: ones and twos that take nothing off are spent on repairs — they even out the Home and close future gaps.
And one more thing, against intuition: bearing off is not always the best move, even in the very last stage. Sometimes fixing the shape is worth more.
What can overturn a won game
A big double. A pair of sixes on his bear-off can claw back a solid lead, and the only defence is shape. The danger is set early: badly placed checkers turn his double into your loss, so the shape against a big double is considered while you are still moving.
The same arithmetic works for you. It pays to force him to collect checkers on non-adjacent points — say one that comes off with a five and one that comes off with a three: such checkers leave slowly, and every unsuitable roll of his is wasted.
His checkers have gathered on non-adjacent points: a five and a three take them off, while a four and a two take nothing — they only shuffle checkers inside the Home.
A fence works here too: four checkers in a row placed in your own bear-off zone hold him no worse than a fence at his Head.
And last. If the fence at his Head never came together, do not cling to it: rebuild with fresh checkers and take as much of the bear-off zone as you can. Two occupied points at his Head are usually enough to leave without losses.
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