Our new book is out and available on CreateSpace and Amazon! This column is something of an advertisement, we hope forgivably, for Mr. Darcy Plays Draughts and Other Stories: The Checker Fiction of Bob Newell. Net proceeds, if any, will help defray the ever-increasing costs of Checker Maven web hosting.

The book is a collection of some of the best stories appearing in this column over the past years, plus one brand new one, the title story, Mr. Darcy Plays Draughts. Why is Elizabeth suspicious when Mr. Darcy takes up a seemingly innocent interest in the game of draughts?

Read the book and find out. But we'll give you a hint right here by presenting a checker problem closely related to those that appear in the story (and no, we're not going to give any more than that away).

BLACK

WHITE
White to Move and Win

W:W32,22,K15,10:B23,21,13,2.

As always, solve the problem, and then click on Read More to verify the solution and learn more book ordering details!

Solution

22-18* 23-26---A 10-6 2x9 18-14 9x18 15x31 21-25 31-26 13-17 26-30 25-29 32-27 17-21 27-24 29-25 30-26 25-29 24-19 29-25 19-16 25-29 16-11 29-25 11-7 25-29 7-3 29-25 3-7 25-29 7-10 29-25 10-14 25-29 26-30 29-25 14-18 25-29 18-22 White Wins.

A---Perhaps Black's best try. Other moves lose much more quickly:

13-17 10-6 2x9 18-14 9x18 15x13 21-25 13-17 23-26 17-22 White Wins.

21-25 10-6 2x9 18-14 9x18 15x29 23-26 29-25 26-31 25-22 White Wins.

We do hope you'll consider ordering our new book. It's $9.99 plus shipping. If you order from CreateSpace we get a 40% royalty; if you order from Amazon, we get about 22%, but please order from whomever you wish. The book would make a great holiday gift for both checker fans and Jane Austen fans.

We've had a couple of advance inquiries about signed copies. These will be available toward the end of October, 2016. They will cost a little more ($10 plus $7 shipping to U.S. destinations; ask us about international orders) because we will only ship by Priority Mail, which is considerably more expensive than Media Mail. The issue is that we mail from Honolulu, and Priority Mail reaches the U.S. mainland in a few days while Media Mail generally takes at least two to three weeks and sometimes as long as six weeks. If you're interested in a signed copy, write us at mrdarcy@checkermaven.com.

Mahalo for your support!