Three Move Opening, Part 4

Three Move Opening: A Checker Romance

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Part Four: Second Move

It was quite a while until Reggie was able to get out of his seat. He stayed in the empty classroom, numb, nearly unable to process what had happened to him. But finally, students started arriving for the next class. He must have sat there for over an hour, right through lunch and into the following class period.

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He folded Katie’s note and stuck it in his backpack, stumbled to his feet, and left. He went straight to the bus stop. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was skipping classes, and even worse, skipping draughts practice. He didn’t even want to talk things over with his friend Jack. He just wanted to go back to his rented room, get into bed, pull the covers over his head, and never get up again.

# # #

The next day was Friday, and there were no classes and no practice. It was just as well, and although Reggie did manage to get up in the morning, he had no desire to see Katie in Chaucer class. It would have been more than he could have borne.

He had a lot of homework to do and no wish to do that, either, and in addition, he was supposed to go through his opening repertoire and do some problem practice, as the draughts match with Lyme Regis was just five days away.

He knew he had better get out of his room, even though he didn’t want to; he couldn’t let himself become paralyzed with depression. Maybe, he thought, it was best to leave the pursuit of women to people like Jack, who had the right skills. If it had been anyone but Katie ...

She was intelligent, she had a sense of humor, and she played draughts besides. What could get better than that? Oh, and of course she was beautiful, but to Reggie that was almost a sort of afterthought. Who cared what she looked like? She was just this amazing ...

Stop it, Reggie told himself. Maybe she’s all of those things but forget it, you lost your chance, now move on, you’ve got a lot of things to get done and not a lot of time to do them.

Reggie sighed and put his books into his backpack. He looked wistfully at his Chaucer book and wanted to rip the pages out of it. But that went into the backpack too, along with his book of draughts openings and draughts problems.

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He’d go to the school library. With no classes on Fridays, the library would be pretty deserted, and he could work quietly. Maybe he’d even be able to get his mind off Katie and concentrate a little.

Reggie went outside and took the bus to the college.

The school library was indeed as empty as Reggie had expected it would be. The many long wooden tables were virtually unoccupied. Students generally left homework until Sunday; Friday and Saturday they avoided the campus as if it were off-limits.

Still, Reggie went down to the very end of the main hall and sat at a table in the far corner. He decided he'd work on his differential equations class. That would keep his mind off ... other things. Then maybe, just maybe, he'd face up to it and crack open his Chaucer book.

# # #

A couple of hours must have passed by when Reggie finished his homework assignment, hoping that he'd never again in his life have to do a problem set on the Method of Frobenius.

Fine, he said to himself, now it's time to confront reality. He pulled out his Chaucer book, vowing to himself that he would study and not think of ... her. "I shall have no fear," he said to himself. "I shall look the beast in the eye and ..."

"Reggie, who are you calling a beast?"

Had he actually spoken out loud? And who was ... no, it couldn't be.

It was.

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Katie

Katie sat down in a chair on the other side of the table. She wore a big smile.

"I thought ... I mean, there was no one here and I wasn't ..."

"I know, Reggie. I was just teasing."

"Wh--- why are you here?"

"Because we need to talk a little, and because I knew there would probably be no one here on a Friday except maybe you. So I took the chance. I wanted to talk in person, not over the phone."

"You did? I thought ..."

"Yes, I know what you thought after that 'Goatgetter' note I sent you. Reggie, I'm really sorry about that. I went too far and I was too harsh. But I was just trying to get a message across."

"A message ... I got the message that you were angry and didn't want to see the movie with me any longer."

"Yes, it was that, but I lost my temper. I thought you were making fun of my family origins, in a poor mill town. Didn't I tell you about that?"

Reggie had long ago turned red, but he made a valiant effort to regain his composure. "Yes, you did, but I thought Maid of the Mill would be a kind of tribute, and then there's the Suffolk Fair Maid. I hoped you would be pleased. I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to offend."

"I believe you, and as I said, I regret what I wrote. So I'd like to make a suggestion."

Reggie leaned on his elbows, moving forward in his seat.

"What?" he asked eagerly.

"How about we start over. You go home and write another note to me, and bring it to class on Monday. I'll answer you, and then everything should be smooth and we can go to that movie. I'm sure it will still be playing next weekend. What do you think?"

"Great idea!" Reggie said. "I know I'll get it right this time!"

"I'm sure you will, Reggie. Now I'll let you get back to your Chaucer." She looked pointedly at his open textbook. "I just know how much you love Dr. Rowan's class!"

They both laughed, and Katie took her leave.

Reggie knew he wasn't going to be studying Chaucer. He had something else to work on.

# # #

Fortunately it was a Friday and the buses still ran frequently. Reggie couldn't make it home fast enough. He was on a mission.

But he found that it wasn't a mission easily accomplished. He had to get it right this time. After having started half a dozen notes and in the end tearing up every single one of them, he found himself wishing that Katie had given him some idea of what to write instead of what not to write.

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He made himself stop for dinner, another cheese and pickle sandwich, but he didn't care. He was hoping that a short break would provide him with some inspiration. Then he took a short walk around the neighborhood to clear his head, feeling very proud of himself for having thought of the idea.

Somehow, it worked, or, at least it worked in combination with Reggie's next activity; for when he got back to his room, he thought he would solve a checker problem before returning to his note writing.

BLACK
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WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W32,30,29,27,26,25,24,21,20,19,13:B18,15,14,12,11,10,6,5,3,2,1.

He didn't find it very hard. And then he realized that he had found two solutions; one to the checker problem, and one other that was about something quite different.

He knew what to write to Katie.

Smiling and chuckling, he put pen to paper and wrote out his note. Okay, he had made a mistake the first time, but this was perfect. Quickly, he consulted his Chaucer book. Was Katie ever going to love this!

Finally, the note was completed. Reggie went back over it and made some corrections, then wrote it out again as neatly as he could on a fresh sheet of paper. He folded it, wrote "Katie" on the front, and put it in his Chaucer book to keep it safe and to be sure he wouldn't forget it.

And that was just the first half of Reggie's plan.

To be continued.

Can you solve Reggie's checker problem? We're sure you can; it's not that difficult and it's rather pleasing. Set aside your love notes and cheese and pickle sandwiches and give it a try, then click on Read More to see the run-up and the solution.null



Solution

First we'll give the run-up to Reggie's problem position.


1. 11-15 22-17
2. 8-11 17-13
3. 15-18

Forms Maid of the Mill.


3. ... 23x14
4. 9x18 26-23
5. 10-14 24-20
6. 4-8 28-24

Doesn't necessarily lose but 25-22 is somewhat better.


7. 11-15 31-26
8. 8-11 23-19
9. 7-10?

11-16 would have drawn. Now we have the problem position with White to play and win.


9. ... 26-23!

What is black to do now? 5-9 and 18-22 (computer moves) both lose a man up front but avoid other consequences.


10. 6-9

Or 10. 2-7 32-28 11. 3-8 21-17 12. 14x21 23x14 13.10x17 19x3 White Wins. The position is filled with shots favoring White.


10. ... 13x6
11. 2x9 25-22
12. 18x25 29x22

And now if


13. 3-7

3-8 or 1-6 or 9-13 also all fail to avoid the shot.


13. ... 20-16!
14. 11x20 23-18!
15. 14x23 27x2

White Wins.

03/24/18 - Category: Fiction -Printer friendly version-
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