TO BLOCK OR NOT TO BLOCK
A little history
Many years ago when curling started, games were wide open. People curled outside, used any old broom, wore what they could on their feet and used stones that were rough. Because of that, anything could happen and every game was interesting. Then, rinks moved inside, better brooms or brushes and curling shoes became available, and rocks were sharpened and balanced. Play became more precise and predictable and in the 1980’s, big teams gained success with their ability to take out rocks. One team placed a rock, the other took it off; each team waited for the other to make a mistake and only then did they use a strategy other than take-outs. As a result, it became boring to play and especially to watch curling.
To counter this, in the 90’s the "Free Zone" came into being. We play the Three-rock rule, while the International competition uses the Four-rock rule. What it means is that only after the third or fourth rock can we remove a stone from play unless it is in the house.
What this has done for curling is to ensure that there are more rocks in play at the start of an end, and therefore has made the game much more interesting to play or to watch.
The lesson
Several curlers still wonder why the skip calls certain shots in the early part of an end. A very simple strategy still used my most skips it the following. If I don’t have the hammer, I call for a stone on the centre line; if I do have the hammer, I call for a stone about a meter off the centre line and a meter in front of the house. WHY ?
You don’t have the hammer.
In this case, most skips like to call for a stone on the centre line so that with subsequent shots (from lead to skip) they can draw to the button around that guard. (see Figure 1). It is the easiest and most frequent way that a team can eventually steal a point.
You have the hammer
In this case, the skips wants to keep the centre clear for an easy last stone draw or take out; he therefore wants to set up long guards on the side to hide a stone if the other team makes a mistake. (see Figure 2) For sure, he does not want the centre cluttered. It is the easiest and most frequent opportunity that a team has of scoring two points.
