Continuing with our ongoing series taken from Willie Ryan's Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard, this month we present a complex problem that Willie himself admired greatly, as he clearly states below.

"No compendium of classical coups would be complete without including the historical Horsefall Stroke, which I consider one of the great masterpieces of scientific play. Here's the run-up:

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

A---Weak, but drawable. The following makes an easier draw: 3-8, 19-15, 2-7, 22-17, 7-10, 17-13, 10-19, 26-22, 19-26, 30-23, 14-17, 21-14, 11-15, 18-4, 9-18, 23-14, 6-9, etc.

B---Strongest, forming position illustrated. If instead of 8-11, white moves 25-22, the only moves to draw are: 7-11*, 8-6, 2-9, 22-18, 9-13*, 18-14, 13-17, 14-10 (23-18, 21-25, 30-21, 19-24 results in a draw), 5-9, 23-18, 9-13, 18-15, 17-22."

We're well beyond the introductory material in Mr. Ryan's classic book, so you can't expect an easy ride. Don't horse around; try to rein in the problem, and then click on Read More to gallop directly to the Willie's solution.

Checkers has been solved. This headline has appeared in many news articles in the past few days, as Dr. Johnathan Schaeffer announced on July 19, 2007, that his team at University of Alberta has completed their quest to develop a rigid proof that checkers is, with perfect play on both sides, a drawn game.

This proof is a monumental achievement in computer science and took years of work to develop. The proof is non-trivial, both in complexity and quality; Dr. Schaeffer's team not only proved that checkers is a draw, they've shown how to do it. Given that you have a very powerful computer, an enormous database, and some sophisticated computer code, you can draw all your games from now on.

What's our reaction to this? As computer literates ourselves, we're most impressed with Dr. Schaeffer's work. As checker players and fans, we can only say, "Let's play checkers." In fact, this week your editor himself was quoted in Nature Magazine, when asked about the impact of this new proof on the checker playing public, as saying, "People will keep right on playing checkers."

And, of course, they will.

We note that, while checkers is now known definitively to be a draw, this coming week's U.S. National Tournament hasn't been canceled, and we in fact predict with great confidence that the tournament will produce some really fine games of checkers. Too, we have no plans to discontinue publishing The Checker Maven as we still think there are plenty of checker topics worthy of column space.

While the computer has had a profound influence on our game, mostly (but not entirely) for the good, checkers is in the end a game for people. Real, live people from all walks of life play checkers, and they won't stop now. From country picnic tables all the way to Las Vegas tournament halls, checkers will go on.

A draw? Yes, in theory, the game is a proven draw. In practice, it's still a great deal of fun and a tremendous intellectual challenge, and that's not going to change.

Editor's note: The photo at the top of this article is a file photo and is not of Dr. Schaeffer and his laboratory.

The publication date of today's article is July 14, which is the French national holiday, most popularly known here in the US as Bastille Day. The French certainly know how to throw a party, and music, dancing, liberally quaffed libations, parades, and much more take place throughout the country starting the evening of July 13 and continuing all through the next day. Capping it all off, of course, are spectacular displays of feu d'artifice--- fireworks.

We wanted to publish a French problem to celebrate the occasion, but high-level checkers as played in France is almost exclusively the international game, played on a 10x10 board with rules that differ in substantial ways from the Anglo-American game about which we write here. So instead, we're offering our own feu d'artifice display, featuring spectacular fireworks on the checker board. Here's the position, as composed by problemist T. Duncan.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W8,K11,K15,18,22:B4,9,13,25,K29.

With a setup such as this, you just know something extraordinary is about to happen. Can you work it out?

There's no need to explode, of course; clicking on Read More will rocket you to the crowd-pleasing solution.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, is perhaps an hour's drive south on Interstate 25 from our Santa Fe offices. We go there frequently, and with our eye for the unusual, we've spotted some rather unique combinations during our visits.

Where else will you find a Mexican-Greek restaurant?

Or a muffler repair shop that also houses a Vietnamese lunch counter?

It's not possible to top either of these eclectic melanges, but our checker problem today is a combination of a different sort.

For the sake of variety, on the first Saturday of each month we've alternated between speed problems and stroke problems. This time, we present a single problem that has aspects of both: you'll need to find the winning stroke in a rather short amount of time. The problem is fairly easy, and we think fifteen seconds should leave you with time to spare.

Of course, we're as infamous for our diabolical notion of "easy" as our Javascript clock is infamous for its unforgiving nature. But in any case, combine speed, clear thinking, and accurate play to solve this month's speed/stroke problem.

July Speed Problem

When you've worked it all out, click on Read More for the very pleasing solution paired with the actual game from which the position arose. Though we can't offer you tacos, gyros, a new muffler, or Vietnamese noodle soup, we do think you'll enjoy today's problem.

Hawaiian Konane Board Carved in Rock

Ed Gilbert generously sent along a copy of his 10-piece KingsRow endgame database (see previous story) for the use of The Checker Maven, and we've been having a few pleasant adventures getting it all set up and ready to use. We in turn send our thanks to Ed for supporting our ongoing work of bringing checkers to the public each and every week.

Our general policy is not to solicit donations and not to accept them if offered, as we believe that The Checker Maven should be free for everyone, and we don't want to have class distinctions between donors and non-donors. But Ed's offer was very special and very much appreciated. (We did also once accept a generous donation from Brian Hinkle, which is subsidizing a future electronic republication of a classic checker book.)

To install Ed's database, we really needed a faster and larger computer system, so, at Ed's advice, we built one from an assemblage of parts ordered from the component vendor Newegg. It took a little time and effort but our new system is running fine. We've called it Konane Kane which in Hawaiian roughly means Checker Dude. (The game Konane is sometimes called "Hawaiian Checkers.")

Here's a picture of the new system in the basement laboratory of our Santa Fe offices.

"Konane Kane" in our Santa Fe Computer Laboratory

Sometime later next year, Konane Kane will likely travel to "Hawai`i nei" and become the main computer at our Honolulu offices. In the meanwhile, we'll be using it and Ed's phenomenal database to bring you exciting new features and articles. It's a big win all around. Mahalo nui loa!

Who among us has not read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and derived untold benefit from the eminently practical wisdom and philosophy of its author? And who would be surprised to learn that Ben Franklin was himself a checker player, who praised the merits of the game as training for life?

Today's Checker School problem, though, was composed by a different Benjamin: E. A. Benjamin, to be precise, but we think it's as practical and useful, at least in checker terms, as Ben Franklin's advice for living a successful life. The problem situation is shown below.

E. A. BENJAMIN
White

Black
Black to Play and Win

B:W28,K9,K4:BK20,19,3.

Taking a closer look, we see that White has a material advantage, having two kings to Black's one, but Black's mobility is clearly superior. Is it enough to turn the situation into a Black win? Try it out, and then click on Read More for the solution, notes, a sample game, and some words of wisdom from the better-known Benjamin.

It was our pleasure quite recently to receive in the mail a copy of a wonderful new checker book, John Cardie's How to Beat Granddad at Checkers, and we simply can't say enough good things about it.

Mr. Cardie's book is based partly on the premise that grandparents have a lot to offer to grandchildren, and that many important lessons can be imparted over the checkerboard. So, to a large extent, the book is about much more than checkers: it's about life, and wisdom, and family, and learning, and teaching. It's about precious hours that grandparents and grandchildren can spend together and about the wonderful and irreplaceable memories that these moments create. Mr. Cardie's book speaks to the heart as much as to the mind.

Of course, there's checker content galore, and grandparents will likely learn a great deal themselves. After an introduction which convincingly explains why checkers is a good thing for both grownups and youngsters, Mr. Cardie teaches about the numbered board and checker notation, and then jumps right into basic checker tactics. (Presumably, grandparents can teach the rules and other basics on their own, although there is a later chapter in the book with the official rules of checkers.) Mr. Cardie has invented some very clever new names for old tactics, such as "the sandwich move" for what is traditionally known as "breeches." Some of the names are really catchy, such as "Twins in the Closet" for a particular three king vs. two king endgame. The book as well is liberally sprinkled with pages of general instruction, such as lessons on sportsmanship, and interestingly titled items like "Earnings and Yearnings" and many more, which use checkerboard situations as analogues for life. There are a number of checker puzzles of appropriate difficulty; and a listing of checker websites and resources rounds out the volume.

Some time back, we reviewed Galina Golant's excellent book, Play Checkers With Me. Ms. Golant's book was at the small child, introductory level. Mr. Cardie's book is the next step up, and is suitable for use with children who are a few years older, perhaps from the age of six or seven onwards. But there is no question that adults too will enjoy the book and benefit from it.

We hear that Mr. Cardie may be able to land a national distribution contract for the book through a prominent chain. We're sworn to secrecy about the details, but we certainly hope that comes to pass.

Author John Cardie

Obtaining this book is easy and inexpensive, and something that we recommend you do without delay. Just go to Mr. Cardie's website at www.checkerscreateskings.com for full details on ordering options. It's a book that is not to be missed.

In the Northern Hemisphere, it's now officially summer; and what is better in summer than, at a picnic or outdoor gathering, to play a few games of checkers? A cool drink, a slice of watermelon, and a friendly contest or two over the board ... that's life at its best. At least, it usually is....

In today's column, we join Billy (we've already met him in one of our earlier stories), who is off for a month at summer camp. As one of the top players on his school team, Billy has become a sort of informal checker instructor. It's mid-afternoon, and the boys, having just finished a somewhat rowdy game of leap frog in a nearby field, have gathered at a picnic table and are settling down to some checker work.

"Here," said Billy, "let me show you guys one that's kinda like playin' some more leap-frog." He then set up the position below.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W19,22,26,30:B10,13,17,K27.

"Can ya believe it," Billy continued, "White can win this here one!"

The rest of the boys were talking among themselves, expressing more than a little skepticism. "But it don't look so good," objected Willy, one of the younger and less experienced players. "I mean, Black's got a king and stuff!"

Just then Mort arrived with a big plate of watermelon and a tray of sodas. He had been last at leap-frog and so was made to "go fetch" for the other boys. "Well," Mort exclaimed, glancing at the checkerboard as he set down the refreshments, "I ain't so good at leap-frog but I can win that game there!"

The words "yeah, right" were heard repeatedly as the gang attacked the food and drinks. "I can too!" Mort said in a loud and exasperated voice. "I'll show ya!"

Billy sat back a little, put down his soda, and said to the other boys in a firm tone, "Hey guys, give 'em a shot at it." This was accompanied with a bit of a wry grin that Mort didn't catch. "Tell ya what. If he figgers it out, somebody else gets the next tray of sodas. If he don't get it, maybe he needs a bath or somethin'."

Everyone started to laugh except Mort, who realized now that if he didn't find the solution, he was probably going to get summarily tossed into the lake. But there was no turning back. Shaking just a little and hoping the boys wouldn't notice, he sat down at the board.

Don't be all wet yourself. Solve the problem and click on Read More to check your solution.

We found this problem in a old and rather eclectic checker book. The author, who must have been an eclectic character in his own right, referred to the solution as "a real eye-popper."

You may or may not agree--- after all, what constitutes an eye-popper is in the mind of the beholder--- but we do think you'll enjoy solving this one.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:W30,28,K15,K1:BK29,K27,21,7.

Forces are even, but Black has a weak man that White can pick off in just a few moves. Can you focus on this one and see your way to a Black draw?

Don't be blinded by the seeming difficulty; clicking on Read More will provide 20-20 hindsight by bringing you the snappy, perhaps even eye-popping, solution.

Here's an astronomy question for our checker fans:

Q. What's denser than the galactic core and has to do with checkers?
A. Ed Gilbert's 10-piece endgame database.

Completed in just under a year (admittedly somewhat faster than the Milky Way galaxy took to reach its present form), and containing the proverbial billions and billions of endgame positions, Ed Gilbert's 10-piece endgame database is dense, rich, and full of checker content. It's the very first product of its type to become available for home use by serious checker enthusiasts, and it is destined to change and enhance top-level checker play as leading players begin to use it for analysis and study.

The concepts involved seem complex on a nearly cosmological scale, so to bring things down to earth, The Checker Maven interviewed database creator Ed Gilbert by email. Here's what Ed has to say about the database and other topics of interest.

CM: Tell us a little bit about the 10 piece database.

Ed: It's a database which gives the exact win, draw, or loss value of every checkers position having from 2 to 10 pieces with up to 5 pieces on a side. Checker programs have used endgame databases for quite a while. What makes this one somewhat newsworthy is its size and the tremendous increase in playing strength that it gives to Kingsrow. Up until about 2001 the largest endgame database that was available to the public was for 6 pieces. At that time several commercial programs introduced 8 piece databases, and free programs like Cake and Kingsrow soon followed with 8 piece databases computed by Martin Fierz and Jonathan Schaeffer.

The number of checker positions that are possible increases rapidly with the number of pieces on the board, as does the size of these databases and the time it takes to compute them. A 6-piece database can be computed in a couple of hours, and easily fits on a 64mb flash drive. An 8-piece database takes a couple of weeks and occupies about 4GB. It is only within the last few years that anyone has been able to build a 10-piece database. Jonathan Schaeffer was able to complete the first 10-piece database in 2003 using the resources that were available to him as a department head at the University of Alberta. He estimates that it took him 15 computer years to build it. The Kingsrow 10-piece database is the first to be available to the general public.

CM: How long did it take you to develop the database? How did you go about it? What would you estimate you've invested in time and expense?

Ed: I started building it in August, 2004, and finished 11-1/2 months later. Before starting, I spent several months working on the program that would build it and optimizing its performance to run as quickly as possible. I wanted to build the database in one year, and I did not want to buy 15 computers to do it! I also had to work out some technical difficulties in building some of the very largest subdivisions. Schaeffer had available to him a powerful 64-processor Silicon Graphics workstation with 32gb of RAM. I had to work out schemes to build everything on my home PCs with only 2gb. I ended up building and using 4 computers to do most of the database computations. By building them myself I was able to save some money, and also get exactly what I needed, which was computers with lots of RAM and the largest hard drives available, but without any other extras normally purchased with a new PC. I didn't need keyboards, mice, speakers, or displays, since these machines were only used to compute databases 24 hours a day. There is a more detailed account of my building the database at my web site here:

http://pages.prodigy.net/eyg/Checkers/10-pieceBuild.htm.

It describes some of the computer science involved, as well as my experiences maintaining the equipment and keeping the whole thing running for a year.

CM: How do you think the database will influence checker play and analysis?

Ed: I think it will help identify some errors in published play, and it will allow many difficult endings that have up to now been left as 'probable loss' or 'probable draw' to be conclusively resolved. Many tournament players like to review their games and see if they missed a win, if their opponent missed a win, or if they lost, identify the exact losing move. The 10pc db is a tremendous help with this type of analysis. There is also a small group of analysts that like to try to find draws in absurdly difficult opening lines. I admit to doing some of this myself, although strictly using the computer, since my own crossboard analytical skills are not very strong. I've been maintaining a specialized 10-piece opening book in which I've accumulated new play in ballots like the Black Hole, Twilight Zone, Gemini, Wilderness, Double Cross, Octopus, etc. This opening book is available on the web here:

http://pages.prodigy.net/eyg/Checkers/BH_draws.htm.

CM: Although we know that overall you're won't even come close to making a profit, nonetheless in absolute dollar terms the database is, at $160, a non-trivial investment. What do you think is the market?

Ed: I think the number of people that will purchase this is quite small, due to the declining population of serious checkers players. I will be surprised if the money made from selling 10 piece databases will cover the cost of even one of the computers that I used to build it. This is not a money making business! Selling the database allows me to get it to the people that really want it and can make good use of it. As far as the price goes, I think it's an incredible bargain. If you are serious about playing checkers, there is nothing else that comes close to giving you the information it provides. You cannot obtain one of these anywhere else in the world. If you wanted to build one yourself, assuming you had the skills to do it, you'd have to buy a bunch of computers and run them for a very long time. Then you'd have to figure out how to integrate it into a checkers program, which means you'd have to write your own checkers program...

CM: We understand that the database needs some hefty computing power for effective use. Can you tell us something about that?

Ed: A few years ago this was true, but by today's standards the requirements are no longer "hefty." Basically you need a sufficient amount of RAM to cache portions of the database during a search, and you need enough free hard drive space to store it. That means you need about 2gb of RAM and about 250gb of free disk space. There is a way you can use the database with less; you can read the details at the Kingsrow web site. If you're using an older machine that needs more of these things, it's likely you can add them quite inexpensively. A coworker at the office just bought 2gb of RAM for $75, and 320gb hard drives are selling for around that same amount.

CM: Whenever large leaps are taken in computer checkers, such as represented by your database, there is inevitable discussion of "solving" checkers once and for all. Indeed, a university team is working on that very thing. Do you think checkers will be "solved" and how do you think that might affect human play?

Ed: Apparently Schaeffer is getting close to proving the win/loss/draw value of all of the 3-move ballots. This will be a nice milestone in computer science and the culmination of perhaps 10 years of work by his team. I expect that they will simply confirm what people have already known about the ballots for a long time, and it will have very little if any effect on human play. However there always is a small possibility that they will find a draw in one of the ballots thought to lose. If this occurs then it will be big news for 3-move tournament players, and also for that other group I mentioned that likes to look for draws in absurdly difficult opening lines.

CM: You are a world-class checker programmer and database developer. Can you tell us a little about your background and interests? What do you do as a "day job" and what do you do for fun?

Ed: For about the last 27 years I've been working for what used to be called Hewlett-Packard, until they spun off their electronic instrument business as a separate company a few years ago, and now I work for that company, Agilent Technologies. I work in R&D as an engineer developing new products. I'm married, with 3 daughters, two of whom have finished college, while the youngest just turned 20 and has a couple of years left to go. I do a lot of bicycling on my road bike (on an Italian steel frame that I built into a complete bike about 15 years ago), and I've also been a runner and regular lap swimmer for over 35 years. When I was younger I used to race in running road races and triathlons, and now I keep up these activities simply for the enjoyment and the exercise.

CM: Can you tell our readers how they might decide if they want the database, and how they might obtain it if so?

Ed: If you're serious about the game of checkers, and you want to have the most powerful tool for analyzing positions that is available anywhere, then you want the 10-piece database. All the information that you need to obtain it, including PC requirements and installation instructions, are at the Kingsrow web site:

http://pages.prodigy.net/eyg/Checkers/KingsRow.htm.

The Checker Maven thanks database developer Ed Gilbert for granting us this interview, and repeats Ed's statement that if you're a serious checker player, the 10-piece database is a true "must have" product. We're getting our own copy as soon as we possibly can.

Database Creator Ed Gilbert
Photo courtesy of Carol Gilbert