In the offices of The Checker Maven, we're learning new things all the time, and in seeking a theme photo for our extended "Kelso" series, we came across "Dr. Bob Kelso," who is pictured above. Apparently, Dr. Kelso is a character in a television series about which, we must admit, we know nothing (we definitely prefer checkers over television).

Fortunately, there's always more to learn about checkers, too, and today we'll be looking at a slight variation on the Kelso from that shown last time; just a single move changes, but in checkers that can make all the difference. This is a continuation of Variation 2 on Capers in the Kelso as found in Willie Ryan's classic Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard. Here's the run-up without annotation; see the previous columns in this series for complete notes and discussion.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:W31,30,28,26,24,23,21,20,19,13:B17,15,14,12,11,10,6,5,3,2.

Can you doctor the play enough to find the moves needed to draw? The cure is rather complex. But fear not, healing is at hand by clicking on Read More for the full solution treatment.

Solution

Finding all the moves in the solution below is a lot to expect, and in fact we point out a couple of errors that Willie himself made. If you found the initial star move, 15-18*, give yourself full credit.

Numbered notes are by the editor, using the KingsRow computer engine with 10-piece endgame database.

I---"From here to the end, white can maneuver for an advantage in several ways. However, black cannot be denied a draw.

J---A splendid analysis by one of the great stars of yesteryear."

1---2-7 might have been better.

2---The position has evened out.

3---The computer gives 23-26 here to keep things equal.

4---15-11 would have conferred substantial advantage. The position is now even again.

5---For instance 32-23 (5-14 loses to 7-2) 9-2 23-18 7-10 18-15 10-7 etc. with a clear draw in sight.