We are pleased to announce the release of the hardcover edition of Grandmaster Richard Pask's Complete Checkers: Repertoire. This new edition incorporates hundreds more additions, corrections, and enhancements. Mr. Pask did a complete review of the previous trade paperback edition, resulting in the ultimate in refined, verified, and accurate play. Together with the hardcover of Complete Checkers: Insights, this forms a set that may well be unmatched in the history of checker book publication, and will likely be the standard course of instruction and reference for decades to come.

As always a completely free PDF version of the book is available for download, either here or from the Richard Pask page linked in the right hand column. A print version is available from the usual Amazon sources, at a price designed to recover only some (not all) of the costs of the project. (This is a completely non-profit non-commercial endeavor.)

Here's an example position taken from page 109 of the book. The run-up is as follows.

1.	9-14	23-19
2.	14-18	22x15
3.	11x18	26-22
4.	7-11	22x15
5.	11x18	21-17
6.	3-7	25-21
7.	7-11	24-20
8.	10-14	17x10
9.	6x24	28x19
10.	11-16	20x11
11.	8x24	27x20
12.	4-8	21-17
13.	1-6	29-25
14.	8-11	17-14
15.	2-7	30-26
16.	11-15?	...

Black should have played 6-9, which was the only move to draw. White now has a win. Can you find it? See if you can, and then click on Read More to see the solution. Or better still, download the new book and see all the variants on this ballot!

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You're an adventurer about to enter strange and reputedly dangerous territory. Look ahead ... is it a trap? Is it safe to proceed?

Our game of checkers is no stranger to devious traps and the need for caution. Let's explore this a bit.

In our ongoing Checker School series, we've been (more or less) following along in the fascinating and eclectic book Checker Board Strategy by Andrew J. Banks, published back in the mid 1940s. One chapter in Mr. Banks' book is entitled "Denvir Strokes" featuring situations taken from the work of the controversal old-time player and writer John T. Denvir (no, it's not the more modern folk-singer who went by the pseudonym John Denver). Mr. Banks presents most of Denvir's problems as "traps" given the title of Denvir's 1894 book, Denvir's Traps and Shots.

Now, given Mr. Denvir's mixed reputation, we're not totally sure if the following is an original of his, but he does claim it was from one of his over the board games.

It's actually quite a good problem, although perhaps not for the reasons you think. Why is this called a "trap"? You'll see when you solve it or click on Read More to see the solution.

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In our previous story, our hero, Marvin J. Mavin, refused to fill out a 'political correctness' evaluation sent to him by Grosse Pointe Modern Thinkers Academy, in advance of his scheduled lecture at that school.

Not having received the evaluation form in a timely manner, the school canceled Marvin's lecture, and sent a complaint to the Belpre, Ohio headquarters of the National Checker League, which read in part:

---

We are highly upset by Mr. Mavin's refusal to complete a routine political correctness evaluation, which we require in order to protect our students from mini-micro aggressions, ideas which they may find offensive or not properly aligned with beliefs and holdings required of the politically correct, and so on. We had no option but to deny Mr. Mavin access to our school. Because of this, our students were deprived of the opportunity to further develop their interest and skills in the sport of checkers.

We would like to further point out that, upon review of Mr. Mavin's National Checker League web page, we noted that he did not list his preferred pronouns, in an obvious gesture of contempt toward an obligation incumbent upon all politically correct members of society.

Finally, while not related directly to Mr. Mavin, we want to point out that our checkers are blue and gold in color, in order to avoid any untoward implications by forcing students to play with red and white or black and white checkers, which could lead to a belief that one of these colors is more likely to win than another, and is thereby thought to be superior.

---

The letter was addressed to Mr. Axel Homeboy, the NCL Commissioner, who immediately contacted both the Detroit Doublejumpers (Marvin's team) owner, who in turn contacted the Head Coach, Mr. Baba Dudut, who then berated Marvin in front of the team at the next practice, not because Coach thought that checkers ought to be politically correct, but because Coach had gotten in hot water with the team owner and the Commissioner.

Marvin just listened in silence, as did his teammates. However, there was a match that evening with the Arizona Almas, and unfortunately, both Marvin and the team were dispirited and discouraged by Coach's rantings, so the match wasn't going well. The fourth and fifth board Doublejumper players had drawn. The third board was won by the Doublejumpers but the second board fell to the Almas. That left Marvin on first board, needing a win or his team would lose the match on tie-break rules.

Marvin's opponent was Paul "Peanuts" Peterson, who was a reputable player. Peanuts was playing a good game and the situation came down to the following position with Marvin to play, needing a win.

Marvin gave it some thought but couldn't quite get the whole political correctness debacle out of his mind. Finally, though, he made his move.

---

A win for the team is at stake. Set ideologies aside; the game is what matters at the moment. Can you win it? Give it a try and then give a correct click of the mouse on Read More to see the solution and the rest of the story.

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In previous stories about the Beacon Cafe, with its setting in 1955 Bismarck, North Dakota, we've explained about both the spring and fall seasons and the absolute requirement to rake your yard. In the spring, that's done on the first weekend of April, no matter if snow is still on the ground. In the fall, the rule is a little less rigid, but it's usually the first weekend in October, after this cold-weather city has typically experienced its first hard frost.

There was no question about it. If you were a homeowner, you followed these rules if you didn't want to be known as a misfit, someone who didn't belong, or even something of a pariah, because if your lawn didn't look right, it affected the rest of the neighborhood.

Sal Westerman, whom we all know as the unofficial leader of the Coffee and Cake Checker Club, which met every Saturday afternoon at the Beacon Cafe with the exception of summer and holiday breaks, was a long-time Bismarck resident and understood how the town worked. When he was younger, he and his wife Sylvia, later joined by their daughter Joyce, were out there raking faithfully every spring and fall. But some years ago Joyce had moved away to Washington D.C. to join a law practice, and Sal and Sylvia were now elderly, so they hired out their yard raking to some ambitious and relatively younger ladies in the neighborhood.

Hiring someone to do your raking was acceptable, if marginally so. Doing it yourself was considered much more meritorious, but if you had an excuse, such as age or infirmity, people would nod their heads and understand, even if they felt it wasn't quite the same as getting out there and sweating. Of course, if you were younger (such as under 70) and capable (such as not terminally ill), hiring out the yardwork was considered the height of laziness. And not doing it at all--- maybe you need to move to a slum in a big city where you'd fit in better.

But "raking day" had taken place on the previous Saturday, which had turned out to be a slow day for the Coffee and Cake Checker Club, as many of the "boys" couldn't get their raking done before the 1 PM club start time. Now, the "boys" were, except for Young Blaine, all over 50 years of age, yet everyone other than Sal and Old Frank did their own yardwork.

Today, though, the attendance was much better. Dan, Delmer, Wayne, Larry, Louie the Flash and Young Blaine were all there in addition to Sal. Naturally the initial talk was about raking leaves the previous weekend.

Now, back in the day, leaves were raked and left on the curb for City pickup, though some rakers would create mulch piles and a few would haul the leaves to the landfill on their own. But another measure of merit was how big a leaf pile you created. Larger leaf piles were of course more highly esteemed than smaller ones.

Blaine said he and his newlywed wife Moira didn't have to rake as they weren't yet homeowners and were renting in an apartment building. However the building's owner offered Blaine a day's worth of pay to rake up the grounds, and Blaine and Moira gladly took it on. He mentioned the huge pile of leaves that he had loaded into the owner's pick-up truck to haul to the landfill. But the rest of the boys insisted that it didn't count because an apartment complex was larger than a house and besides, Blaine did it for hire.

Louie the Flash hemmed and hawed about his own efforts, mumbling about going to Fargo to visit yet another new girlfriend. "I raked her yard, does that count?" he asked. But the boys said they could hardly give any credit to out of town raking.

The raking one-upmanship contest went on for a little while longer when finally Sal intervened. "Boys, we're here for checkers! Now I'm sure you all--- or almost all--- did your jobs, and who had the biggest pile of leaves really isn't all that important. Let's just call it a draw and move on."

There was a tiny bit of grumbling, especially from Wayne, who had a big house and a big yard and thought he ought to have been the winner. But eventually there were nods of assent.

"Now, look," Sal said, "I have a problem for you that is quite thematic, and if you think raking leaves and the game of checkers aren't related, take a look at this.

Sal laid out the following position on a couple of the checkerboards which were on the tables in the big booths at the back of the Cafe.

"Well then, here's the idea. There are a lot of pieces on the board. Think of them as leaves and find a way to rake them all up! I'll give you, oh, forty-five minutes to solve it."

The proprietress of the Beacon Cafe, Deana, always knew when to speak up. A blue-ribbon baker, Deana sold the boys wonderful baked treats during their meetings. If the boys didn't solve Sal's problem, they would buy for Sal with some to take home for his wife; but if they solved it, Sal would buy for the group.

"I've got autumn leaf cookies today," Deana called out. "Freshly baked and from an old family recipe." As usual, Deana's timing--- and marketing--- were impeccable.

---

Are there any special rules about raking your yard, whether in spring or fall, in your community? Do you follow those rules or would you rather just play checkers? We know what our option would be! Regardless of your local situation, do try to "rake the leaves" in Sal's problem. Click on Read More to see the solution and the brief conclusion of our story. We're sorry, but you'll have to provide your own cookies.

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The old expression "all roads lead to Rome" stems from the long-ago empire of Rome once being the center of everything. Today, the saying generally means that there can be many ways to achieve the same goal.

We can apply this to our game of checkers, too. Here's a relatively easy speed problem that can be solved via multiple initial moves, but the play leads to the same result in all cases.

Can you find the "roads to Rome"? We think you can, and when you have, click on Read More to check your solution.

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A thief stealing a checkerboard! Perhaps the checkerboard is especially valuable; who knows what motivates our perpetrator?

The checker fraternity is of course familiar with stealing on the checkerboard. In this installment of Checker School we continue with material from the eclectic Andrew J. Banks book Checker Board Strategy with a position that should illustrate this known tactic.

See if you can solve this one--- it's not that difficult--- and then let your mouse steal a click on Read More to see the solution.

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The calendar had turned to September; Labor Day had come and gone, and that meant two things.

One was that the new season of the National Checker League (NCL) would get underway.

The other was that kids across the land were all back in school.

It so happens that these two events were connected, for it was the policy of the NCL to do some outreach in the schools during September, in the hopes of inspiring the scholastic checker clubs and players to seek bigger and better accomplishments.

Nearly everyone in the NCL took part, and that of course included Marvin J. Mavin, whom all regular readers know to be the superstar Captain of the Detroit Doublejumpers. Although Marvin liked working in the inner city with disadvantaged kids, this year he was assigned to an elite private school in the upper echelon Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Now, Marvin wasn't completely thrilled with this assignment, but he was a trooper and he would do his duty. On a Thursday, when the Doublejumpers had an off day, Marvin was in his study paging through a few books in order to select material for his upcoming lecture at Grosse Point Modern Thinkers' Academy. He thought the problem below would be a good one to illustrate some points about how to think in checkers--- the right thing for the Thinkers' Academy, he reasoned.

But before he could work on this idea any further, he noticed a pile of unopened mail on the side of his desk, where the butler must have left it at some point. (Marvin's wife, Priscilla, was a very highly paid CEO at the international conglomerate, Rust Belt Holdings; she and Marvin lived in a chic 5,000 square foot condo and had a part-time domestic staff.)

"Hope it ain't all bills," Marvin said, but then realized it couldn't be; all the bills went directly to Priscilla's private CPA. There was a certain amount of fan mail, forwarded from the Doublejumpers from among the thousands of letters Marvin received each week, some advertising that the butler decided not to discard, and so on. But what caught Marvin's eye was a letter from none other than the Grosse Pointe Modern Thinkers' Academy.

Marvin opened the envelope. Inside was a letter and a form with what seemed to be a return envelope. He read the letter first.

"Dear Mr. Mavin,

"Thank you for volunteering to give a lecture to the many checker enthusiasts at our school. However, given your reputation, we would like to avoid any difficulties, and so we ask you to first answer the questions on the attached sheet. Please answer fully and carefully. Upon receipt of your submission, our governing board will review your answers and decide if we wish to continue or withdraw our invitation to speak.

"Thank you in advance,

"Grosse Pointe Modern Thinkers' Academy Board of Governors."

Marvin was a bit non-plussed. "Hey, you didn't extend no invitation, I was volunteered," he said to himself, "and besides, what's this about my 'reputation' and stuff?"

He went on to read over the form, which contained the following.

---

Political Correctness Evaluation

1. Should dogs and cats have separate bathrooms?

2. Should ants with blue eyes be placed in a protected category?

3. Should critical cricket theory be taught in schools?

4. Should hiring take into account historical inequities in preferences for breakfast eggs?

5. Should non-politically correct people be permanently banished from civilization?

Submit your answers at your earliest convenience in the enclosed envelope.

Note: The Post Office will not deliver mail that is unstamped.

---

Marvin looked at the envelope. "Gotta provide my own stamp, even. Gee. I don't know about this. Those questions, I mean like who ever heard of blue eyed ants and stuff?"

Marvin decided to wait until Priscilla got home later that evening. He would talk it over with her.

Dinner was normally at about 8; Priscilla typically worked until 7 and was home around 7:30. After dinner, which was prepared by Priscilla's private chef and consisted of a Cobb salad, panko-crusted mahimahi, a medley of steamed fresh vegetables and Potatoes Anna, followed by a lemon sorbet, Marvin showed Priscilla the letter and the form. They were seated on Chesterfields in the living room with cups of freshly brewed Colombian coffee, flavored with just a touch of cardamom.

"Well, dear," Priscilla said, "it seems reasonable to me. After all they need to protect the kids from incorrect speech and unacceptable ideas. It's important to be politically correct and that should be learned at an early age. There are things that children need to learn that they must believe in, and support. Protecting blue-eyed ants is just one of them. Eliminating persistent and pervasive breakfast egg preference inequality is another. I'm sure you understand. You could say the same about critical cricket theory. Why, did you know ... "

"Aw, honey," Marvin broke in. "I don't know nothing about that kinda stuff. I, like, play professional checkers, and over the board there ain't no blue eyed ants or cricket theory or nothing. We just play the game and the best player wins. We keep it kinda simple. Everybody gets the same chance at winning, or losing, or whatever."

Priscilla folded her arms. That was a sure sign she was getting annoyed. "Well, dear, you can tell the school that and watch what happens. You'll get canceled ... and maybe even exiled from civilization!" She laughed. "I'm going to bed now. You do the right thing, okay, dear husband of mine?"

Priscilla headed off down the corridor towards their bedroom.

Marvin thought for a minute and then muttered, "Yup, do the right thing. That's what I'll do."

Marvin went into his study, carrying the letter and form, and tossed them into the antique 1910 Victor wastebasket.

To be concluded.

---

Marvin once again appears to be headed for some potential trouble. However we'll set that aside at least long enough for you to solve today's problem. When you're ready, click on Read More to see the solution, and tune in again next month for the story's conlusion.

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Sal Westerman was whistling a happy tune on his way to the Beacon Cafe in Bismarck, North Dakota.

It was September, 1955 (it's eternally 1955 in these stories), and the weekend after Labor Day. That meant that Sal's Coffee and Cake Checker Club would resume its Saturday afternoon get-togethers after the Memorial Day to Labor Day summer break.

Summer in Bismarck was short and during that time everyone wanted to enjoy the long hours of daylight and the relief from cold weather. So nearly all of the usual activities paused. Sal of course enjoyed his summers, but he missed his club and was delighted that the "new season" was about to begin.

As expected, the turnout was large at this opening meeting. Most of the "boys" (all but one of whom were over 50 and some, like Sal, considerably so) were on hand; Delmer, Wayne, Larry, Dan, Ron, Louie the Flash, Young Blaine, Mike, and even seldom seen members Barry and Old Frank were all seated in two of the large booths at the back of the Cafe. With Sal, that made a near-record total of eleven.

Deana, the Cafe's proprietress and a blue-ribbon champion baker, couldn't have been more pleased. In anticipation she had baked several trays of everyone's favorite, walnut chocolate chip bars, and had brewed extra pots of coffee.

After the greetings were complete, the talk turned to summer activities. Wayne and Ron had spent the summer on their respective family farms. Delmer, Larry, and Barry had spent nearly every weekend fishing and camping. Dan and Mike had taken vacations out west and Dan managed to play in a checker tournament in breezy San Francisco. Old Frank stayed home working on his custom dollhouse sideline.

Of course Young Blaine had gotten married in June (as written about in a previous Checker Maven column). The boys tried to get Young Blaine to talk about his honeymoon with his new wife, Moira, but Blaine would only say that it was "nice." The new couple had taken the train to the East Coast and went on an Inland Waterway cruise.

Louie the Flash, though, allowed as how his summer hadn't been so great. "Hey wow man, it started out nice," he said, "with my new almost girlfriend in Fargo (see previous story). Man, I was so sure she was the one. But on about my third or fourth trip she told me sorry, but she found another guy who she said was 'more suitable.' Well, okay, I said, I'll find another girlfriend, been nice knowing you. Sorta."

The problem was, Louie admitted, that each new girlfriend didn't last more than a couple of weeks and before long summer was over and anyhow he was tired of driving the 200 miles each way to Fargo. Did he have a current girlfriend? the boys asked and Louie admitted that at the moment he was strictly on his own.

That elicited a certain amount of sympathy from the boys, but then again, they all knew Louie. He'd have another girlfriend soon, and another after that, and so on.

"Enough of this girlfriend business," Sal said. Admittedly he and his wife Sylvia had been married well over 40 years and it wasn't like Sal was exactly up to date on dating and girlfriends. "I have a nice little checker problem for all of you."

The boys nodded and expressed their assent. Indeed, it was time for some checkers, and the way it always worked was that if the boys could solve Sal's problem, he would buy the treats, but if they couldn't get it, the boys would buy for Sal and some for him to take home to Sylvia.

"I sure hope you don't get this one," Sal said good naturedly, "or I'll be buying a lot of treats."

He laid out the following position on a couple of the checkerboards and the boys set to work while Deana refilled their coffee mugs.

After about 45 minutes, Sal called time. Old Frank, speaking for the group, said, "We've got it."

---

Walnut chocoate chip bars sound really quite good, but unless you're living in Bismarck in our fictional 1955 world, you'll have to supply your own. What you can do is give the problem a good try. When you're ready, click on Read More to see the solution.

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She's searching for something and obviously not finding it. She'll just have to look harder, and hopefully eventually will achieve success.

It's the same in our game of checkers. In some of the worst circumstances, when we think we're hopelessly lost, we need to look harder. Checkers is full of subtle resources and often enough there is some hidden feature in the position that will allow for a draw--- or even a win.

In the diagram below, we see that Black doesn't have much in the way of options, and while we can't expect a Black win, it's worth looking hard for a possible draw. This one isn't too difficult and falls close to being a speed problem, but nevertheless there's something rather clever to be found--- if you look for it.

Have a good hard look and then let your mouse find its way to Read More to see the solution.

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Once again we're coming up on Labor Day, a great holiday that can trace its origins in the United States back over 140 years. Labor Day is celebrated in Canada at the same time, although many other countries opt instead for May 1.

Be that as it may, it's a day to honor workers of all stripes. You might be a business executive.

Or maybe you're a plumber.

Perhaps even a welder.

No matter. As we say every year, we feel that all honest work is worthy of respect and recognition. We don't think of any job as either lowly or elite; we're all just trying to get the job done in our own field and in our own way.

It's a three-day weekend and that might just allow a little extra time for checkers, amidst the parades, celebrations, BBQs, and everything else. So let's call on America's own Louis Ginsberg, one of the greats of the Golden Age of checkers. Here's a problem of his that we believe dates to the late 1920s.

This one requires persistence and many "star" moves. Labor away at it, and then work your mouse over to Read More to show the solution.

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