🎲🎲 BEYOND THE BOARD – HOLDING GAMES FLASHCARDS

Set 4 | Sage Series 🌿 | 40 Expert Backgammon Positions

🌿 Learn the art of patience, timing, containment and escape!

Discover 40 carefully selected real-game holding positions, complete with detailed XG analysis and practical explanations using the Backgammon MOT™ IPEAR teaching framework.

Created by Connor Dickinson – BMAB Backgammon Master, England International, multiple tournament winner and backgammon coach, these digital flashcards help players understand the strategic subtleties of holding games and develop stronger decision-making skills.

Part of the growing Beyond the Board Flashcard Collection, the Sage Series takes a distinctive approach to learning: combining serious backgammon analysis with memorable literary imagery.

🌿 THE SAGE SERIES – WHEN THE JAILER BECOMES THE PRISONER!

🎲 Do you know the three types of holding game?

Understanding their differences is fundamental to recognising the correct game plan, managing timing and knowing when to escape.

Inspired by Aron Nimzowitsch, the influential chess grandmaster and strategic thinker of the 1920s, I've combined my love of psychology, sociology and creative writing to develop an extended prison metaphor throughout this collection.

Checkers become prisoners, anchors offer sanctuary, primes become prison walls, and timing determines whether the prisoners escape—or the jailer becomes trapped by his own defences!

Throughout the 40 positions, memorable captions and strategic observations reinforce important lessons, including:

🔐 “When the Jailer Becomes the Prisoner”

🔐 “The Panopticon Prime: even the jailer can become a prisoner of his own walls.”

🔐 “The best escape is planned before the last prison gate opens.”

🔐 “The clever prisoner escapes while the guard is still searching for his keys.”

🔐 “Do not admire the prison walls while the inmates organise a second cell.”

These aren't simply literary embellishments. Each illustrates a practical strategic principle involving timing, containment, flexibility, defensive resources or escape.

The aim is to make the lesson memorable long after the position has been forgotten.

🎲 WHAT'S INCLUDED?

Your digital flashcard collection contains 83 pages:

• 1 title card
• 1 introduction card
• 40 illustrated question cards
• 40 corresponding answer cards
• 1 Collect the Series card

Each answer includes XG analysis, equity comparisons and a structured explanation of the reasoning behind the strongest moves.

Series: Sage – Holding Games

Format: Digital PDF

Card dimensions: 13 × 18 cm

Delivery: Instant digital download through Payhip – no physical cards supplied

🎓 HOW THE FLASHCARDS WORK

Study each position, examine the match score and dice roll, and decide how you would play.

Then turn to the corresponding answer card to compare your decision with XG's preferred moves and explore the strategic reasoning.

Every answer follows my Backgammon MOT™ IPEAR framework:

I – Insight: Recognise the positional clues, racing considerations and strategic tensions.

P – Plan: Identify the appropriate game plan and understand its objectives.

E – Equity: Examine winning chances, gammon probabilities and the equity cost of competing moves.

A – Alternatives: Compare candidate plays and discover why attractive moves may be inferior.

R – Refinement: Extract a memorable, transferable lesson to improve future decisions.

Don't simply memorise the best move. Understand WHY it's the best move!

🔐 MASTERING THE HOLDING GAME

Holding games are among backgammon's most subtle strategic challenges. Success often depends less on immediate tactical opportunities and more on patience, timing, racing judgement and recognising when circumstances favour escape.

The Sage Series explores:

• Mutual holding games, one-man holding games and deep-anchor holding games
• Understanding the offensive and defensive roles
• Recognising the importance of racing leads and deficits
• Managing timing and preserving flexibility
• Choosing when to retain or abandon an anchor
• Identifying opportunities to escape safely
• Understanding the value of contact and future hitting chances
• Balancing immediate tactical gains against long-term positional strength
• Recognising when primes help—or hinder—your game plan
• Evaluating match-score, gammon and equity considerations
• Understanding when patience becomes a weakness
• Learning to change plans as the position develops

A holding game is not simply about waiting. It's about knowing what you're waiting for—and recognising when the moment has arrived.

🏆 CREATED BY CONNOR DICKINSON

I'm a BMAB Backgammon Master, England International, multiple tournament winner and Backgammon MOT™ coach, with competitive achievements including winning the Blackpool Open 2026.

Drawing upon competitive experience, detailed XG analysis and my longstanding interest in psychology, sociology and creative writing, I developed Beyond the Board to make advanced backgammon education accessible, engaging and affordable.

My philosophy:

Learn the reasoning behind the move, not merely the move itself.

🌈 PART OF THE BEYOND THE BOARD FLASHCARD COLLECTION

The Sage Series is Set 4 of a growing collection exploring the strategic and tactical challenges of backgammon.

Available now:

🟡 Set 1 – Openings: Develop strong foundations in opening strategy and early-game decisions.

🟠 Set 2 – Blitz: Explore attacking opportunities, tactical decisions and gammon potential.

🔴 Set 3 – Middlegame: Master competing game plans, positional flexibility and strategic transitions.

🟢 Set 4 – Holding Games: Develop patience, timing, defensive judgement and the art of escape.

💎 Set 5 – One-Man Back: Discover the strategic value of the rear checker, recognising when to race, attack, prime or preserve contact.

Further collections are planned, allowing players to build a comprehensive, colour-coded personal backgammon learning library.

Collect the series and develop your game one decision at a time.

💻 HOW TO PURCHASE AND USE YOUR PDF

Step 1 – Purchase Your Flashcards

Purchase the Holding Games Sage Series securely through Payhip.

Step 2 – Download Your Collection

Following successful checkout, your 83-page PDF flashcard collection will be available as an instant digital download.

Step 3 – Study and Improve

The flashcards can be studied on a phone, tablet, laptop or computer, or printed for personal use.

Examine the question card, choose your move, reveal the XG analysis and study the IPEAR explanation. Revisit challenging positions to reinforce your understanding.

Ideal for independent study, match preparation, coaching discussions and ongoing backgammon improvement.

🎲 EXPLORE BEYOND THE BOARD

Beyond the Board offers digital flashcard collections, personalised game analysis, the Backgammon MOT™ Performance Report and professional checker-play performance tracking.

Explore our digital training resources through our Payhip store:

https://payhip.com/BeyondtheBoardBackgammon

We also offer practical backgammon accessories, including dice cups, foldable castle dice towers, clock stands, dice boxes, doubling cubes and other playing equipment.

Our physical accessories remain available through the BeyondTheBoardBG Etsy shop:

https://beyondtheboardbg.etsy.com

🔴 IMPORTANT INFORMATION

DIGITAL PRODUCT – NO PHYSICAL ITEM WILL BE POSTED.

This listing is for an 83-page PDF flashcard collection.

Colours may vary between screens and printers. Printing settings may affect final dimensions.

This purchase is licensed for the buyer's personal use only. The PDF may not be copied, shared, resold, redistributed or used commercially without permission.

🎲 BEYOND THE BOARD

Created by a backgammon player, for backgammon players.

Learn the reasoning. Improve the decision. Master the game.