GR translation: he alternates long lethargic backing and filling with bursts of idiot razzle-dazzle

[Mike Jing]

V576.3-12   Pökler is living in the basement of the town hall. He has some
coffee heating on a driftwood fire in the stove.
       “Do you play chess?”
       Frieda kibitzes. Slothrop, who tends to play more by superstition
than strategy, is obsessed with protecting his knights, Springer and
Springer—willing to lose anything else, thinking no more than a move or two
ahead if that, he alternates long lethargic backing and filling with bursts
of idiot razzle-dazzle that have Pökler frowning, but not with worry. About
the time Slothrop loses his queen, “Sa-a-a-y, waitaminute, did you say
Pökler?”

What is "backing"?  Does it have any specific meaning in chess?
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