We've heard more than enough over the years about the "People's Republic of XXX" and the "Democratic People's Republic of YYY" and all the rest. These countries are seldom a republic and virtually never democratic.

So our latest finds, "The People's Journal" and "The People's Checker Book" might at first sound more than a little suspicious, until we point out that these publications date back to about 1898, long before the first appearance of a "People's Republic" and even before the Bolshevik revolution.

In fact, "The People's Journal" published some interesting checker problems, one of which is presented below.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:B14,K11,K22:W12,24,K19.

This problem has a surprisingly clever solution, and it might in fact fool some of the people some of the time, but we suspect it will please all of the people all the time. When you're ready to check your answer, it's your democratic privilege to click your mouse on Read More.

Solution

22-26*---A 24-20 26-23!---B 19x26 14-18 26-31 18-23 12-8 11x4 20-16 4-8 16-12 8-3 Black Wins---C.

A---Some other moves surprisingly actually lose, for instance 11-16 19-15 14-17 24-20 White Wins.

B---Did you see this amazing move? Black goes a man down and yet wins at once.

C---A great example of setting up a win with "The Move" and a clear illustration of why this might better be called "The Opposition."