Try a Backgammon Game as a Fun Chess Break

Playing the same game all the time can get not only boring but also fatiguing. If you have been playing too much of chess refresh yourself with a backgammon game. The backgammon game has different rules and a different set up so it a change, but backgammon skills ensure that your mind remains well oiled. There is another compatibility between chess and backgammon, at least the offline version. The backgammon board has the chess board on the reverse side, so the same board can be used. Good backgammon players make good chess players. Backgammon skills improve chess skills and vice versa.

Both chess and backgammon can be played online and offline. In the online format both games can be played against opponents or the computer. But the backgammon board is completely different from the chess board. In backgammon each player lays out his 15 checkers on the black and red quadrants of the backgammon board. The objective of the backgammon game is to bear ones checkers off before ones opponent by moving them home. The movement is controlled by the throw of the dice. One of the key backgammon skills is to avoid having single checkers on the backgammon board as they are vulnerable to opponent attack. If your opponent knocks off your checker it has to resume from the beginning.

The backgammon game involves working out future possibilities, just as the chess game does. In that respect backgammon skills are similar. Therefore as you play more and more of backgammon do not be surprised if you find your chess game improving. There is one difference in the two games however. Chess involves no luck whatsoever. Backgammon moves are determined by the throw of dice so there is an element of luck involved.