We're not personally aquainted with any modern-day checker analogue to the traditional pool hustler, but we know for sure that, at least in times past, such a thing did in fact exist, and no doubt exists somewhere today. Old Bennie Newell himself (your editor's grandfather) hustled checkers in his tavern in Newark, New Jersey, many decades ago, and there certainly were many others.

We don't know if the author of today's problem, a checkerist of yore named Henry Hutzler, was a hustler in anything but homonymous surname, but his composition makes a fitting entry for our Checker School series. It's deceptively simple, though not as hard as some others, and most of all, it's eminently practical and it or its like turns up in many an over-the-board contest.

H. Hutzler
BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W6,7,30:B5,21,22.

Forces are even, but White has a recognizable positional advantage. Is it enough to win? Mr. Hutlzer says it is, and no doubt he would have been willing to bet on it. What do you say? Make your call and then prove it before clicking on Read More to see the solution, a sample game, explanatory notes, and a most interesting quotation.

This month, instead of the usual speed problem or stroke problem which is our traditional month opener, we're bringing you an example of a rarer species: the block problem. And this is not just any block problem; it's a block construction problem.

Having nothing at all to do with the building trades, a block construction problem challenges you to reconstruct the moves leading up to a block position. Let's take a closer look: our target position is shown below.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play; White has Won

B:W31,28,27,26,23,22,18,10:B24,20,19,16,15,12,11,8.

In this position, Black is to move and the game is lost. Black is completely blocked and has no move. Your challenge is to come up with a full game, composed only of legal moves, that will lead to the block position shown. This is much more difficult than you might think, and could take an expert player an hour or more to do.

Are you up to the challenge, or are your mental processes blocked? Show your prowess as a builder by solving today's problem, then click on Read More to see how our position arose in an actual published game.