The following announcement is reproduced with the kind permission of the American Checker Federation. As always, this promises to be an exciting match with checkers played at the highest grandmaster level.

The World 3-Move Title Match between Alex Moiseyev (USA, champion) and Ron King (Barbados, challenger) will be played Oct. 5-15, 2009 in Medina, Ohio, with Oct. 10th as a rest day. Match is 40 games (as needed). Referee is Steve Holliday.

The Rodeway Inn Medina Conference Center, Medina, Ohio, is located on 2875 Medina Road on the Northeast corner of I-71 interchange with state highway 18 (exit 218, just south of where I-71 and I-271 merge). Hotel is a quarter-mile from interchange. Room rates are $49.95 (single or double) per night plus tax. Seven-day rates (no pro-rating) are available for $149.95 plus tax (approx. $169). Phone number for Rodeway Inn is 330-725-4571. Please indicate you are there for the checker match to receive the discount.

For additional info, contact:

Richard Beckwith

(440) 516-1284

e-mail: beckwith24@msn.com

A major checker documentary is in the works. No, we are not kidding! It will be called King Me and you can read all about it on the King Me web site.

Professionally produced by Think Media Studios, the movie is being filmed on location in South Africa, Barbados, Canada, and the U.S. Crews will be at the 2009 U.S. Nationals in August.

No checker fan will want to miss this one. Be sure to follow the film's progress on the website linked above, or on the American Checker Federation site.

We've had a few inquiries about our new, downsized and down-costed Santa Fe location, so to better illustrate, we've shown above a (rather poor) webcam photo of your editor's desk. The offices are not much different from those at the old location; they're just smaller and the building itself is somewhat older, and certainly in a part of town substantially further down the prestige ladder. What a difference a half a mile can make!

The larger question, of course, is as yet unanswered: in this economic downturn, how long can we keep offices in both Santa Fe and Honolulu? While we don't yet have a timetable, it seems likely that one or the other will close in the next year or so. Time, fortune, and the wishes of our parent company, Mr. Fred Investments, will ultimately tell the tale.

The current state of the economy affects everyone, and The Checker Maven is no exception.

We don't spoil your reading experience by publishing advertising; we will never, ever charge a subscription fee; and we neither solicit nor accept donations. Revenue from a handful of collateral products, and cross-subsidies from our parent company, the Avi Gobbler Productions Division of Mr. Fred Investments, provide us with our only sources of income. It's no surprise that with the economy as it is, our operating funds are down substantially.

So, as a cost-saving measure, we made the decision to move our Santa Fe offices half a mile or so to smaller quarters in a less expensive area. Our staff count will remain the same, and most importantly, regular Saturday publication of The Checker Maven will continue without interruption or reduction in quality or quantity of content.

This week the Checker Maven completes four years of on-time regular weekly publication, with not a single missed edition. It's yet another waypoint we never knew we'd reach, but it's a certainty that our unprecedented success is owed completely to our thousands of regular weekly readers.

While no one can say what the future will bring, it's our intention to keep on publishing for as long as we're able, and, if all goes as planned, you'll find a new edition of the Checker Maven online for your checker pleasure every Saturday morning for many years to come. Thank you one and all for your support and encouragement.

And now, in celebration, we present below a new short story starring a new character: Benny, of Newark, New Jersey, way back in the 1940s. We hope you enjoy today's checker tale.

The Checker Maven notes with great sadness the passing of legendary checkerist Richard L. Fortman, on November 8, 2008, in Springfield, Illinois, at the age of 93. Though we never met Mr. Fortman in person, we exchanged emails with him at times, and he honored us a few years back by permitting us to publish his latest Switcher analysis in our columns.

Mr. Fortman might well have been the last of the great men of the heyday of checkers. As those days have passed, so too have its champions. Mr. Fortman was a master player, analyst, and writer; but above all he was a gentleman and the best of ambassadors for our game. A man such as Mr. Fortman cannot be replaced. A page has been turned in the history book of checkers, never to be turned back again.

Marvin J. Mavin
Captain, Detroit Doublejumpers

The world of Marvin J. Mavin is featured often in the columns of The Checker Maven, and today, in this extra edition, we're providing you with all the details. How did it happen that (at least in Marvin's world) checkers became America's number one sport, eclipsing baseball and football by large margins?

At long last, you can read the full background story. Click on the link to find out about Marvin's World.

In order to serve you better, we've upgraded the software (Nucleus CMS) that we use to run our site. After a few moments of bug-fixing panic, everything now looks fine from our end, but if you experience any problems please help out by letting us know. You can reach us at webmaster@checkermaven.com.

By the way, we can't help but take this opportunity to editorialize a bit. The Checker Maven relies greatly upon free, open-source software (often abbreviated as FOSS) such as Nucleus CMS. We hope you'll join us in supporting the FOSS movement.

Our site hosting performance has gone down low, and The Checker Maven has become too slow!

For the last little while, you've probably noticed that it can take a while to surf over to The Checker Maven. This is an issue with what is properly known as page loading time, and there have been some real problems. It's cost us a lot of readers as, after waiting for a while, they decide to go elsewhere or think our site is out of service.

We've tried working with our hosting company, but frankly, they've not been helpful. We think, though, that we've worked out the nature of the problem, and have put a fix in place. We'll know over the next few days if the fix has corrected the situation.

Meanwhile, we apologize if you're having problems with our site and thank you for your patience.

Today The Checker Maven completes three years of uninterrupted, on-time publication. During that time, we have been fortunate to hold the interest and attention of thousands of readers from all around the world, who have made us what is surely the most widely-read periodical publication in the centuries-old history of the game of checkers. We're very proud of that distinction, and in return we can only wish to continue to publish and to provide Saturday-morning pleasure to all of you who are kind enough to drop by our electronic home.

During this past year, we've done less electronic book publication than we might have wished, and a new on-line feature or two didn't get completed, as we weren't able to function at full force for some months due to medical issues that required our concentrated attention. But that is all in the past, and the prospects for the year ahead look bright. Our plans include, in addition to our regular weekly columns, two e-books and a very exciting new interactive checker experience.

Thank you, one and all, for your continued support and patronage!