The Checker Maven wishes all of our readers the happiest of holiday seasons. Regardless what holiday you might celebrate or how you might celebrate it, we hope this time of year brings you happiness and contentment.

During the holidays perhaps you have a little more free time, but even if you're busier than can be, one can always make time for some checkers. Today we present a study by that renowned player and author, the late Ken Grover; it's quite interesting and should give you plenty of holiday checker enjoyment.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W30,28,27,26,22,21,20,18:B16,15,13,11,10,9,7,5.

Can you find a winning line of play? We'll be fair about it: Mr. Grover published one win and the computer found another that was similar but not quite the same. See if you can work it out and then click on Read More to see the solutions.

A bit of a holiday season tradition at The Checker Maven has been the presentation of a "coffee and cake" problem. This is the sort of problem that you show to your checker friends and bet them coffee and cake that they can't solve it.

We think this year we have one that will put you in the winner's circle and garner you a nice Saturday afternoon treat at your local café or coffee shop. Let's have a look.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

W:W16,14,12,11:B13,6,5,4.

You might initially ask, what's the difficulty? Are those Checker Maven people asking me to just give away some coffee and cake? But when you take a closer look, you'll see that White is mighty short of options. Maybe your friends won't get their coffee and cake so easily after all.

Now, it's only fair for you to try to solve this one first, before you spring it on your unsuspecting friends, don't you agree? So give it your all, and then click on Read More to see the solution.

Today The Checker Maven completes a dozen years of no-fail weekly publication, something we modestly believe is a significant accomplishment. We hope we've being doing our share in promoting the great game of checkers, and we do hope to be able to continue publishing for at least a few more years.

Someone who has contributed immensely to our game is Richard Pask, and to celebrate the "12" theme, we're taking a position that arises from Ballot 12 in his upcoming book, Complete Checkers. (It will be published by us most likely in spring 2017.)

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W12,19,20,24,29,30,31,32:B3,4,6,8,9,11,13,17.

Black has just blundered with 2-6 instead of the "star" move given in the Complete Checkers text, 17-22. How does White bring home the win? We suppose you ought to get 12 minutes to solve it, or 12 attempts, or something of the sort, but just do the best you can. Then, you can click on Read More once (not 12 times) to see the solution.

We've always written about how we love the Thanksgiving holiday, a holiday that unites everyone. No matter what your race, religion, color, or political leanings, giving thanks is an American tradition that we can all support.

On this wonderful weekend we usually try to feature a problem from a great American composer or great American players. Today we'll look at a position that arose in a match game between two of the all-time greats, Walter Hellman and Maurice Chamblee.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:W31,30,28,27,22,21,15:B19,16,13,9,8,7,5,3.

Black is a piece up, and you'd think he should win handily. But it isn't as easy as all that. Can you find the right line of play that will carry Black to victory? You may be surprised!

Find the way to the laurel wreath, and then click on Read More to see the solution.

This column will appear just after the U.S. Presidential election, but the time of writing (eight weeks in advance of publication), the polls made it too close to call, so we can't even guess who won.

But that lead us to the idea of publishing one of those highly irritating "What Result?" problems (but not even close to matching the irritation caused by the just-concluded political season).

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play, What Result?

W:WK30,25,22,18,17,K10:B21,K19,13,K11,9,2.

Were you able to call the election? Can you find the result of this problem, and identify one candidate with White and one with Black?

Give it a go and then click on Read More. We think you'll find the solution both satisfying and appropriate.

In the United States, the Tuesday after this column appears is election day and Hillary and Donald are going head to head with the White House as the prize. We're writing this column some weeks in advance, so we don't know the current state of the polls, but we can safely say that this is the most, um, unique presidential election in many a year.

We urge you to get out and vote for the candidates of your choice. The right to vote is also a responsibility. Please do cast your ballot as your conscience dictates.

In checkers, going "head to head" over the board can also be quite a contest, although even as checker enthusiasts we have to admit that the stakes are somewhat lower, thankfully, than those in a Presidential election. No polls, no talking heads doing endless analysis of incredibly fine points, and, hopefully, no rancor, but instead just the enjoyment of the game.

Here's an actual "head to head" game, played long ago by Berry Mitchell and Chas. Hefter. (The actual players are not depicted below.)

11-15 is better; White now gets an edge.

6-15 may be the better choice of jumps.

Loses. 2-7 is correct.

6-10 is better; Black's situation is now even worse.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W32,31,29,27,25,24,22,21,20,19,13:B18,15,14,12,11,10,9,8,6,5,1.

The win isn't terribly hard to find; would it be that all the problems the next President will face were as easy! Elect your best line of play and then vote with your mouse on Read More to verify your solution.

In the autumn, the leaves can fall quickly. In the photo above, Junior is having a great time with the autumn leaves. Dad may have somewhat less fun when it comes time to bundle them up and dispose of them.

Quickly falling leaves inspire one of the easiest speed problems we've published in a while. Of course, you know the catch; you'd better be quick because we're only giving you five seconds.

Click on the link below to display the position and start the clock. Then, quick as can be, come back and rake your mouse on Read More to check your solution.

October Speed Problem (very easy, 5 seconds)

"There's more than one way to do it" is a common enough phrase, and it seems to have gotten attached to the scripting language Perl, due to Perl's extreme (some say excessive) flexibility. At The Checker Maven Perl scripts figure prominently in our computer work, and, even though the modern trend is more towards the Python language, we persist. But that discussion is even further off-topic.

Today's problem, submitted by regular contributors Lloyd and Josh Gordon of Toronto has two main solutions, hence "more than one way to do it." One of the solutions occurred in over the board play, while the other, which is quite different, is due to KingsRow computer analysis.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W30,23,22,19,16:B14,12,10,7,6.

Which solution will you find? Can you see them both? To find out, there's only one way to do it: click on Read More.

Labor Day; it's a welcome day off work, a last hurrah for summer in North America, a time to see a parade, or squeeze in one more barbecue or picnic or camping trip before the leaves fall and the nights become chill.

And, as we point out each year, it's a time to show our respect for the average Jane and Joe that make up America's workforce, those honest, decent, hard-working people who show up every day, do their jobs, and help make America what it is. There was a time when checkers was their game, and although that's less of a truism today, checkers remains democratic, accessible, and suitable for everyone.

On holidays like these, we like to feature great American players and problemists. Today we have one of the few problems authored by one of the greatest American checkerists of all time, Samuel Gonotsky. It is based on actual over the board play.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

W:W32,31,26,23,K14,13:BK30,28,24,20,19,16,15.

White is a man down but has mobility advantages. Can the situation be turned into a draw? Labor away at this one; but seeing the solution is hardly laborious and requires only a mouse click on Read More.

"Don't be a square" is probably an expression you haven't heard much lately, as it's long out of date. It actually originated with jazz musicians but by the 1980s, it was starting to sound old-fashioned.

Our use of this phrase to title our column is for two reasons. The first is the shape seen in the problem diagram.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:W23,K22,5,K1:B25,K15,K14,9.

The second meaning derives from the solution itself. You might see what we're getting at when you solve it. It's not overly difficult. Don't be a square--- try to work it out. When you're finished, click your mouse squarely on Read More to see the solution and an explanation.