Abilene Texas is cowboy country, partner, you just better believe it. The home of many a Hollywood showdown between the guys in the white hats and the guys in the black hats, Abilene is practically synonymous with the Wild West.

It's perhaps less well-known but every bit as important (at least to us) that Abilene has a history of great checker shootouts too. We recently came across the results of the 8th Semi-Annual West Texas Tourney, held on Washington's Birthday in 1935, and surely Abilene rocked and reeled that day, not from gunshots, but from the excitement of high-class competitive checkers.

We've chosen a situation from a game between a Mr. Geo. R. Gristy, of Eastland Texas (playing White) and Mr. A. H. Tate of Olden Texas (playing Black).

Believe it or not, there's only one winning move. Everything else draws or loses. Here Mr. Gristy played 24-20, allowing Mr. Tate to come up with a spectacular draw.

Can you win this unexpectedly difficult shootout? Can you figure out what Mr. Gristy should have played to win with the White side (instead of 24-20)? Can you show how Mr. Tate cleverly drew after 24-20?

Fight for the solutions, and then shoot back in time with us to Abilene Texas, 1935, to see the full game, explanatory notes, and the surprising answers. All it takes is a simple click on Read More.

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We received our copy of 8th IM: 2005 Eighth International Match this week, and the book is a gem and a rare must-own. Co-edited by Gerry Lopez and Jim Loy, it's a genuine tour-de-force.

Not a mere booklet or even a trade paper edition, this is a professionally bound hardback covered in bookcloth, with oversized high-weight pages, large, clear type, and easily readable diagrams. But it's the content that shines. Here you get Al Darrow's history of the entire match series, photos from previous matches as well as color and black-and-white photos from the 2005 match, player biographies, and many more features. Of course, every game is included with expert annotations by the players themselves and other annotators including Alex Moiseyev, Jim Loy, Mac Banks, and others.

Get your copy quickly while they last from Alan Millhone, P.O. Box #1, Belpre, OH 45714-0001 or Gerry Lopez, 41858 Corte Selva, Temecula, CA 92591. It's just $40 in the US and $45 international.

To whet your interest, here's a problem taken from the book.

For the solution, click on Read More.... but first, order the book without delay!

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The Checker Maven is pleased and privileged to present a new electronic edition of Grandmaster Richard Pask's instructional book, Key Endings. In its pages you will find a wealth of information including detailed play on 25 common and important checker endgame situations, as well as material on the opposition, parameters, and much more. This book contains essential knowledge for the developing checker player and an important summary and review for the established expert.

Together with the already-released electronic editions of Mr. Pask's Key Themes, Key Landings, and Key Openings, as well as the other books available on this site, the makings of a basic checker library are now easily and freely available, without cost, to checker players around the world.

You can download your own PDF-format copy of Key Endings here, or from the Richard Pask page, as linked in the right-hand column of our front page. The book is free, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Pask, in allowing us to republish it and offer it here for your education and enjoyment. Mr. Pask has also given us permission to republish his Solid Checkers, which we hope to accomplish sometime in the latter part of 2007.

Please bring any errors (for which we alone take full responsibility) in Key Endings to our attention, so that we may promptly correct them. Write webmaster@checkermaven.com.

And now, to get you started and spur your interest, here is a tough position presented in the book. Mr. Pask calls it the Skullcracker Ending as it arises from the difficult 3-move ballot known as, unsurprisingly, The Skullcracker.

If you can solve it, great! If you have trouble with it, download the book and study the theme. We won't give the answer to the problem here; you'll find it in the book!

With this issue, The Checker Maven celebrates two full years of uninterrupted, on-time weekly publication, something that we believe no other internet checker webzine has ever accomplished. Over the past 24 months, we've seen our weekly readership grow from a handful to several thousand, as The Checker Maven has become a Saturday morning staple for many a checker enthusiast. By any measure, it's the world's most widely read checkers and draughts publication.

For our part, we're grateful to all of you for making us a success far beyond anything we would have ever believed possible, and we hope to be able to continue to publish for a long time to come.

To celebrate the day, we'd like to go back to our favorite "coffee and cake" theme. This is an idea created by none other than Willie Ryan, about a problem that you'd set up for your checker pals and bet them coffee and cake that they can't win it. Well, today's coffee and cake problem gives them a fighting chance. It isn't really that difficult if you can see the winning method, so you might actually have to pay up on this one.

Our thanks to Brian Hinkle, to whom we owe coffee and cake many times over, for sending us this problem. Solve it, check your solution by clicking on Read More, and then treat yourself--- to coffee and cake, of course.

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It's Thanksgiving Weekend in the United States, a very special and very American holiday, and a weekend on which many people travel long distances to be home with family. Whether you've been able to stay close by, or have yourself journeyed on that long road home, The Checker Maven wishes you the all best of this, our favorite holiday by any measure.

For Thanksgiving Weekend, we bring you a special installment of Checker School with an instructive pair of situations from Ben Boland's classic reference, Famous Positions in the Game of Checkers. Here's the first one, and it illustrates today's theme of traveling far to reach your goal:

Black can win this position, just barely, but it requires a lot of clever maneuvering and a good dose of patience. Are you methodical enough to work it out? Can you visualize far enough ahead to find the solution without moving pieces on a board? It's quite a challenge, and indeed a long road home.

Here is a much easier one, which arises from a variant of the tougher one above:

The solution is very neat and not all that difficult to find. Can you do it?

Whether you in fact find your way, or remain lost, clicking on Read More will guide you on the path to Ben Boland's solution, descriptive notes, example games, and entertaining comments.

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Brian Hinkle's ferocious bear is finally captured in today's Checker Maven column.

No, we did not receive any correct solutions. We did receive some pretty good attempts; and we also heard from a few skeptics who claimed the setting was wrong to begin with.

So, at long last, we present Brian's solution to what we believe is destined to become an enduring, classic problem--- a great new variation on a theme which, strangely enough, has been around for quite a number of years.

To refresh your memory, here's the situation:

1.

11-16

Alternatively, Black can first play 22-25, 30-21, 18-22 and the results are almost the same.

1.	...	20x11
2.	22-25

This is the second, necessary pitch, that removes the "clutter."

2.	...	30x21
3.	18-22

Moving to start the formation of a 4-piece "clover leaf of safety."

3.

...

28-24

If ... 6-10 then black can immediately complete the "clover leaf of safety" with 15-18 and white cannot penetrate the position, for instance 10-15 12-16 15-19 16-20 19-15 29-25 15-19 and then the black man can simply stay on square 20, or black can play 20-24 and we are headed back toward the final position as played out in the main line, which continues below

The main line move as given (28-24) instead sets a trap for black.

4.

12-16

Moving the piece farthest from the king row, and at this point the only move that draws. If black instead rushes to complete the "clover leaf of safety" with 15-18 then 24-19! and white wins as now the man on 12 cannot advance.

4.	...	4-8
5.	15-18

This now completes the aforementioned 4-piece "clover leaf of safety."

5.	...	24-20
6.	16-19	6-10
7.	19-24	8-12
8.	24-27	11-8
9.	27-32

This black king will stay permanently on square 32 and complete the defensive barricade on the double corner side.

9.	...	8-4
10.	29-25

And this is the king that will "wiggle forever."

10.	...	4-8
11.	25-30	8-11
12.	30-25	21-17
13.	25-29	17-14
14.	13-17	9-13
15.	17-21

Drawn.

This is now the draw formation attributed to Dr. T. J. Brown in Ben Boland's Masterpieces in the Game of Checkers, p. 155, diagram C.

Note that all seven black pieces are required and must be in position to obtain the draw.

• Four men form the "clover leaf of safety" which cannot be attacked due to
• the black king parked on square 32 (which itself cannot be drawn away), and
• the unassailable black man on 21, protecting against white incursions into the single corner, while
• the king in the single corner "wiggles" forever, watching white's futile efforts play themselves out.

It is amusing that white can move a king or kings onto squares 19, 24, 27, 28, and 31 without any effect whatsoever! Black simply ignores these efforts and continues to "wiggle" his single-corner king among squares 30, 25, and 29.

The "Bear Claw" is surely a unique and brilliant problem that will entertain checker fans for generations to come.

Are you cross when you find yourself in a loss?

Today's installment from our ongoing republication of Willie Ryan's unmatched Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard deals not with crossness, but with the Cross opening (more accurately, the Cresent Cross), and a neat trap that, should you fall into it, might indeed lead to a cross disposition. But you can avoid this terrible fate by studying this example and paying attention to Willie as he explains as only he can do.

An Interesting Cross Loss

"The 26-23 line of the cross (4th move) has never enjoyed the same popularity among top-notchers as that of the 27-23 build-up. I am among the few moderns who are partial to it. The play presented on the next page reveals the one trap I have used most frequently with the white pieces:

11-15, 23-18, 8-11, 26-23, 10-14---A, 30-26, 7-10---C, 24-19, 15-24, 28-19, 11-16, 22-17, 4-8, 26-22, 9-13---D, 18-9, 5-14, forming the diagram.

A---If 4-8 is used, then proceed with 30-26, 10-14, 24-19, 15-24; at this point, 27-20* is still essential, as 28-19 loses by 11-16, 32-28---B, 6-10, 22-17 (27-24, 8-11; now 22-17 is beaten by 11-15, and 24-20 by 10-15), 8-11, 26-22 (if 17-13, 10-15 wins), 1-6, 17-13, 14-17, 21-14, 10-26, 31-22, 7-10, 25-21, 16-20, 29-25, 3-7, 22-17, 9-14, 18-9, 5-14, 19-15, 11-18, 23-19, 7-11, and black wins. Wm. F. Ryan vs. H. L. Rudolph.

B---22-17, 8-11, 17-10, 6-24, 27-20, 9-14, 18-9, 5-14, 25-22, 16-19, 23-16, 12-19, 22-17, 7-10, 29-25, 3-8, 17-13, 8-12, 25-22, 11-15, 22-17, 14-18, 17-14, 10-17, 21-14, 18-23, 26-22, 23-26, 14-10, 26-30, and black wins. Wm. F. Ryan.

C---If 6-10, 24-19, 15-24, then 27-20* is correct to draw; but 28-19 loses by 11-16, 18-15 (22-17 loses immediately by 10-15), 1-6, 15-11, 14-18 *, 22-15, 9-14, 26-22, 14-18, 23-14, 16-23, 27-18, 10-26, 31-22, 7-16, 21-17, 3-7, 25-21, 16-19, 32-27, 7-10, 15-11, 2-7, etc., and black wins. Wm. F. Ryan. This win corrects draw play by Hugh McKean, W. D. Benstead, and others.

D---Tempting, but fatal. The correct play is 16-20, 17-13, 8-11, 22-17, 12-16*, 19-12, 10-15, 17-10, 15-22, 25-18, 6-22, 13-6, 1-10, 21-17, 5-9, 23-18, 9-13, 32-28, 11-16, 27-23, 2-7, 18-14, 10-15, 23-18, etc., resulting in a draw. Wm. F. Ryan."

Don't be cross yourself if you have trouble finding the solution; click on Read More to see how Willie does it.

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This month's speed problems were contributed by a GoldToken player who calls himself Robyn Hode. Though we're not informed about his archery skills, he's certainly a fine checkerist, as these "fast shots" will show. They are relatively easy, so we won't give you much time to fire your bolt. The first problem arises from a common beginner's blunder in the Single Corner opening. The second problem is adapted from Italian checkers.

November Speed Problem 1. 5 seconds; very easy.

November Speed Problem 2. 15 seconds; fairly easy.

Quickly find the target, but there's no need to quiver; clicking on Read More takes you straight as an arrow to the solutions.

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This installment of Checker School is one that we really enjoyed working on, as it's got a lot of good, practical playing instruction in it.

We have a situation in which, though the White forces are well-advanced down the board, they seem to have been pretty well cornered by the Black team. It's a tough predicament to be in, but there is a very clever draw for White---- if you can see it. This one is well worth learning, as we're sure you'll see similar themes in many of your own games.

Can you find White's way out of the box? One wrong move and it's curtains! But don't despair. Try to find the answer, but if you've still got your back to the wall, clicking on Read More will lead you safely to the solution, along with a sample game and some deep and detailed analysis.

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Our feature problem today is another elegant Tom Wiswell offering, one in which a good start is essential. Let's get right down to business:

A quick review of the position shows that, while a White win is anything but obvious, there are two likely-looking moves for White to play. Yet, as you might expect, only one of them will work.... but which one? Getting a good start here is vital!

Can you find the correct move for White, and the follow-up that will carry the day? We'd rate this one as "not so easy" but certainly solvable--- with a good start.

Work out your line of play, but don't worry; clicking on Read More will start you on your way to the finish line with the solution and some helpful notes.

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