Our Research Department told us, when asked to find a theme for today's entry in our ongoing Checker School series, that there is a bar on Conroy Road in Orlando, Florida, that serves sliders, those small hamburgers that simply slide on down. In fact, they continued, there is a catering establishment in the selfsame Conroy area that features sliders ... we asked them to stop there, that's quite enough, thank you.

We're certain that old-time checker editor J. A. Conroy, after whom the position shown below is named, never had a slider in his life, whether at a bar or catered or in any other form. He lived about 150 years too early for that, and we can speculate that he was likely the better for it. Why the position is called a "slider" will be clear when you work out the solution, and we suppose you've already guessed that hamburgers have nothing to do with it.

Can you slip through this one, or will you get stuck on the way? Try it out--- it goes down easy--- and then slide your mouse over to Read More to see the solution, notes, and sample games.

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This column will appear on St. Patrick's Day, the traditional Irish holiday filled with festivities such as parades, music, green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and much song and merriment. We wish all the celebrants the top o'the day.

We don't know if Irish Checkers will be part of any of the local celebrations, and in fact we have our doubts. Irish Checkers is a proprietary game reportedly created in 1957 by Sullins Manufacturing Company, a one-man operation in Galesburg, Illinois. The game, which is neither Irish nor checkers (and if it had been Irish, it would have been called "draughts'), looked to have been a combination of Halma and Chinese Checkers (which itself is neither Chinese nor checkers) with some dice added to create a strong element of chance. Intriguing, perhaps, but the game didn't last very long, perhaps only a year or so, and Sullins Manufacturing lasted little longer.

Now, we wanted to publish a problem from an historical edition of the Irish Times but we quickly found that access to the Times archives comes with a steep enough price tag to earn an instant turn-down from our corporate accountant. So instead we'll publish a problem that, while not in itself Irish, might require "the luck o'the Irish" to solve.

Will this problem make you turn green? Will you be reduced to boiled cabbage? Or will you employ a bit of Irish wit and wisdom, and find the solution? When you've given it a good Irish try, click your mouse on Read More to see the solution.

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What could be as dandy as breakfast at Denny's, that great American "breakfast at any hour" institution? We're sure nearly all of us who live in the U.S. can confess to indulging in such an extravagant "count no calories" morning feast at least once in recent memory.

But there is something just as dandy as Denny's, and that's today's Denny Dandy in our latest excerpt from Willie Ryan's Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard. We're sure you'll enjoy it, and it's guaranteed to be calorie free. Here's Willie to tell us all about it.

"Very often it is necessary to force a win by the constant threat of a shot without ever actually executing it. In other cases, execution of a shot may be the final product of much preliminary forced play. Here we have a good example of white developing a structural advantage (formational win) in such a manner as ultimately to force black into a staggering stroke. It should be noted that in this case the stroke is the final phase of play, with white's preceding moves forcing black into the inevitable crackup.

10-14	20-16	1-5
24-20	12-19	24-20
7-10	23-16	5-9
22-18	14-18---A	32-27
9-13	29-25	9-14
18-9	8-12	27-24
5-14	16-11	3-8---3,
25-22	12-16---2	to the
11-15	27-24	diagram.

A---I took this move against Jesse B. Hanson in the Eighth American Championship Tourney and managed to draw with it. Later, in analyzing the formation, I discovered it would lose, white subsequently driving black into the shot, as indicated. The correct play at A for a draw is: 2-7---1, 16-12, 15-19, 22-18, 14-23, 27-18, 8-11, 18-14, 10-17, 21-14, 1-5, 32-27, 6-9, etc. Wm. F. Ryan."

1---8-12 is also good for a draw and is the computer's choice---Ed.

2---A bit surprisingly, the natural-looking 3-7 loses something like this: 3-7 26-23 7-16 23-7 2-11 21-17 6-9 27-23 4-8
31-27 15-19 23-18 19-23 17-14 1-5 14-10 16-19 18-15 11x18 22x15 White Wins---Ed.

3---Loses at once, whereas 16-19 would have held on longer---Ed.

We'd like to egg you on: ham it up a little and bring home the bacon on today's problem. Or will you be toast? We won't try to butter you up; simply clicking on Read More will get you out of a jam and over to the solution.

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It is traditionally said that March may "come in like a lamb and go out like a lion" or conversely "come in like a lion and go out like a lamb."

Our columns are written quite a few weeks in advance of their publication date, so we won't attempt to predict March weather in North America; that's an iffy proposition in any event.

But one thing we can do is bring March in "like a lamb" with a relatively easy top of the month stroke problem.

So, are you a lion or a lamb? Will you roar past this problem or be meek as a lamb? We can't predict that, either, but we can say for sure that clicking your mouse on Read More will reveal the problem's solution. And here's hoping that March weather won't be too difficult, either.

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The telephone above is most definitely not an iPhone, but it does seem to pretty well represent the state of the art when it comes to playing checkers on an iPhone.

This article is the first of two on smartphone checker apps. Ed Gilbert, author of the world-class KingsRow checker engine and companion 10-piece endgame database, has graciously given of his time in order to evaluate a group of checker apps for the iPhone. A future article will look into checker apps for Android-based phones.

Ed's article is extensive and includes large graphics, so it merits its own web page. You can find it here, but we'll give you Ed's bottom line right away: there's not much out there that has merit for the serious player. That's indeed regrettable, because from what Ed shows us, we can't help but conclude that the iPhone app authors could have done much better without a lot of additional effort. Unfortunately, most checker program authors think they are producing toys rather than serious game-playing programs, and that's just what they end up doing.

Let's look at a sample game that Ed ran between the iPhone checker apps "Teeny Checkers" and "Fantastic Checkers".

Black	Fantastic Checkers
White	Teeny Checkers

1.	11-15	22-17
2.	9-14	17-13

25-22 was better.

3.

8-11

....

15-19 would retain the advantage.

3.	....	25-22
4.	4-8	....

Very weak. 11-16 is best.

4.

....

22-17

23-19 would have given a large advantage if not a win.

5.	15-19	24x15
6.	11x18	....

10-19 was much better and is in fact a book move.

White now has a simple move that very likely leads to a win. Can you spot it?

We'll give you the answer and find out how the game progressed when you dial your mouse to Read More.

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The fellow in the photo above is obviously studying checkers and has just come across the problem that forms the subject of today's Checker School column. The solution to the problem is one that we too found surprising, and we'll bet you'll feel the same way.

Here's the position:

In a game in which White had and lost the advantage several times, we've arrived at a position where White has one last chance to bring it home. Can you find the surprise move that leads to White victory, or will you be surprised that your solution wasn't the correct one? Try the problem, and then get one last surprise by clicking the mouse on Read More to see the solution, a sample game, and detailed notes.

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Surely you were expecting us to have chosen a dramatic image of the famed Battle of Waterloo, but we like to keep our readers guessing, and we came up instead with a Waterloo tractor made in Waterloo, Iowa, one hundred and one years after Napoleon's defeat on June 18, 1815. The young lad on the tractor perhaps played checkers in his leisure time, and we hope he did well and didn't meet his own Waterloo over the board. But we can surely excuse him if he did, for even the checker greats had their own bad days. Willie Ryan, in his book Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard, tells us about a bad day that one of the greatest of all, James Wyllie, endured.

"It is sheer fallacy to believe that when James Wyllie ruled the boards 80 years ago, he had no worthy contemporaries. On the contrary, Wyllie lived and competed in an era that produced most of the game's outstanding players and personalities, including Andrew Anderson, John Drummond, Robert Martins, John Robertson, Henry Spayth, and Robert D. Yates, to name just a few. Wyllie's predominant fame and popularity stemmed from his prolific activities, his inimitable wit, and his fearlessness as a champion. While others were vainly striving to defend reputations they did not have, jocular James took them all on, in good season and bad, acquitting himself on all occasions with admirable poise. The "Herd Laddie" had his bad innings at the board, as indicated by this reverse at the hands of Robert McCulloch, of Glasgow, best known for his revised publication of McCulloch's Edition of Anderson's Guide. The game proceeded as follows:

11-15	25-22---B,1	9-14
24-20	18-25	28-24---3
8-11	29-22	5-9
28-24	7-11	26-23
4-8	30-25	9-13
23-19	2-7	31-26---4
15-18	19-15---2	7-11---5
22-15	11-18	26-22---C,
11-18	22-15	to the posi-
32-28---A	14-18	tion in the
10-14	24-19	diagram.

A---Wyllie's favorite line of the Ayrshire Lassie, and one that lends itself to a wide variety of "soupy" formations.

B---26-23 is equally good. Charles Hefter of Kankakee, Illinois, is the distinguished author of the following coup on that line: 26-23, 9-13, 19-15, 7-11, 31-26, 3-7, 24-19, 5-9, 26-22,1-5, 28-24, 7-10, and now comes the cut-up by 20-16, 11-20, 15-11, 8-15, 21-17, 14-21, 23-7, 2-11, 19-1, 9-14, 22-17, 13-22, 25-9, 5-14, 1-6, 11-16, 6-10, 14-18, 10-14, 18-23, leading to a draw.

C---This is where Wyllie went wild. The game had been adroitly contested by both players to this point. Wyllie could have drawn easily here, by 15-10, 6-15, 19-10, 13-17, 23-19, 11-15, 20-16, 3-7*, 10-3, 1-5, 19-10, 12-28, 3-12, 28-32, 27-24, 32-27, 10-6, 27-20, 6-1, 20-24, 1-6, 24-27, 6-9, 18-23, 26-19, 27-24, 9-18, 24-29. Wm. F. Ryan."

1---Despite the natural look of this move, the computer scores 25-22 as not so good for Black, giving White a definite edge---Ed..

2---27-23 is preferred here---Ed.

3---This move is a probable loss. 20-16 might have kept White in the game, but Black is still strong---Ed.

4---White is now completely lost. Better was 31-26 though the situation remains bad---Ed.

5---This very bad move allows a draw. A winning line for Black might have been 13-17 15-10 6x15 19x10 8-11 24-19 18. 17-22! 26x17 11-15 27-24 18x27 20-16 27-3 17-13 3-8!10x3 31-27 19x10 27x11 25-22 11-7 22-17 7-2 13-9 14-18 17-14 18-23 21-17 23-27 9-5 2-7 17-13 27-31 13-9 7-2 Black Wins. White is completely out of safe moves---Ed.

Will you meet your own Waterloo here? Willie seemed to have a mini-Waterloo of his own in not catching the blunder pointed out at note 5 above. Battle the problem and then march your mouse to Read More to see the solution.

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Even though this is a leap year, February remains as always the shortest month of the year. It's something to be grateful for in wintry North American climes, as this abbreviated month brings us that much closer to spring.

Today's problem is also "short" in that it is a miniature, those minimalist problems that focus our attention and often demand great accuracy and skill. Like their exact opposites, the stroke problem, they are not to everyone's taste, but unlike stroke problems, miniatures are eminently practical in nature.

Don't give this problem short shrift; put it on your short list. After you've solved it, make a short click on Read More to see the solution.

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As we've noted a number of times, The Checker Maven tries to provide a variety of problems: some easy, some hard, some in-between. Today's problem, a study by celebrated problemist L. T. de Bearn, is, like the cut of meat shown above, definitely on the "tough" side. While obviously appealing to the skilled player looking for a challenge, intermediate players and even ambitious beginning players can benefit by doing some analysis and carefully playing through the solution.

So, without further ado, here's the position.

Forces are even but White has a pretty serious mobility issue, and in checkers that can spell doom. But there is a way to a draw. Are you tough enough to find it, or will this problem chew you up? Get your teeth into this one, and then bite your mouse down on Read More to see the solution.

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Based on the photo above, we suppose our column's title should have been "What are Checkers?" as a plural subject requires a plural verb. But of course, the intended meaning of the phrase references "checkers" as a game, in the singular, and so the singular verb is correct after all.

Although we could go on at length about syntax and other matters grammatical, we're sure you didn't come here for a language lesson. In fact, it's time for an installment of Checker School, and while good grammar and usage are highly recommended, good checker moves are what we're really after.

Today we have an interesting position which is not particularly easy to solve; in fact Ben Boland himself went wrong when he published it in Famous Positions in the Game of Checkers.

Mr. Boland's premise is correct; the game can be drawn by White, even though the position looks anything but favorable. Can you find the correct "checker usage" that leads to a draw? Or will you be sentenced to fail? Don't worry; you won't get graded on your answer, and you can always click on Read More to see the solution, notes, a sample game, and the reason why today's column is titled What is Checkers?.

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