It was the first Saturday of April 1955, in Bismarck, North Dakota. Long-time readers of our column may recall that in Bismarck, the first Saturday of April was the day residents raked up their yards in preparation for spring. It was something that approached a religious requirement. Yards must be raked on that day, and whomever raked up the biggest piles of dead thatch and other debris was considered the most meritorious.

On the other hand, failure to rake your yard, on-time and properly, was simply unthinkable to nearly all Bismarckers, and anyone who didn't--- well, they became instant social pariahs, incurring the disdain, scorn, and often wrath of not just their neighbors but of anyone who even walked or drove by their properties.

Raking the yard yourself was of course the expected method, but there were allowances made for the sick or elderly. Sal Westerman, whom we know as the unofficial leader of the Coffee and Cake Checker Club, was in his seventies and just barely qualified for the elderly exception. Sal generally hired an enterprising young lad to do the raking for him. This was acceptable, but didn't garner any sort of status no matter how many bags of debris the young fellow raked up.

The Club normally met at 1 PM at the Beacon Cafe; they would meet on Saturdays from just after Labor Day to just before Memorial Day. On Raking Day, a smaller than usual turnout was expected, with a couple of latecomers, as not everyone completed their raking by one o'clock, and it simply had to be done before they could think of checkers.

So it was that just after one, Sal was in the big booth at the back of the Cafe with regulars Larry, Wayne, Louie the Flash, and Delmer. Dan had a big yard and might not make it; Mike would likely be there in a half hour or so. Young Blaine hired out his services so he wouldn't be there today as he had several yards to rake.

They were all, of course, drinking coffee and talking about the day's raking. But then in came a stranger. He was about 40 years old (much younger than all the Club members except for Young Blaine).

The newcomer walked back to the big booth and asked in a somewhat brash manner, "This the checker club?"

Sal replied, "Indeed it is. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"My name is Dexter," the newcomer said, "Dexter Werner. I'm new to town but I'm a fan of checkers and some folks told me about there being a small-town club."

"Well, have a seat, and welcome, Dexter," Sal said, "we're always happy to have new members." Sal did introductions and then Dan asked, "So where are you from, Dexter?"

"New York City," he said. "I got a job here as a technician with the phone company. My wife and I had lived all our lives in the city and we were tired of the rat race. So I got this job, we bought a house, and we've been here now for a few months. We finally got settled and it seemed like a good time to look up your club."

"Sounds great," said Wayne, and then asked the question of the day. "So how did your raking go today?"

"My what?" Dexter said. "Did you say raking? What do you mean?"

"Well, Dexter, it's well known that you rake up your yard on the first Saturday of April, you know, to get it ready for spring."

"You're kidding," Dexter said with a sort of half smile. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Because that's what you do," Wayne answered. "You want a nice yard, don't you?"

"Never thought about it. But it really doesn't sound very important. Yard, shmard, who cares?"

"Uh, Dexter, your neighbors will care," said Delmer. "They'll care a lot if they have nice yards and yours ... well, frankly ... if yours spoils the neighborhood."

"Never heard anything so silly as that!" Dexter said. "Why, back in the City ... "

"This isn't the City," Delmer went on. "You said you wanted out of the rat race, well, you got that, but things are done a certain way here."

"Oh, give me a break, willya," Dexter said. "Can we just play some checkers and not fuss about raking the yard, for heaven's sake?"

At this Sal interjected, "Yes, Dexter, we'll do some checkers. But a word of advice from a long time resident such as myself ... it will go much better for you if you try to fit in."

"I don't give a hoot about fitting in," Dexter said. "Now, please, checkers."

Dexter was getting glares from all of the boys. He was even getting a dark look from Deana, the Cafe's proprietess.

"All right then," Sal said with a sigh, "here's today's problem. Nothing to do with leaves but a nice little situation. Deana, what's on offer today?"

The tradition was for the boys to pay for treats if they couldn't solve the problem, and for Sal to pay if they could.

"Old fashioned apple pie," Deana said, "and if you're nice to me, I'll put a dollop of whipped cream on top."

The boys expressed their appreciation although Dexter didn't seem to join in.

Sal laid out the following position.

"Half an hour," Sal said, "starting now."

---

We don't know if you're from New York City, Bismarck, points between, or anywhere else. It doesn't matter; you can try Sal's problem and win a piece of apple pie (which unfortunately you'll have to provide on your own). See how you do and then click on Read More for the solution and the rest of our little story.

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Easy? Hard? If you know how to do something, it's easy. If you don't know how, it's hard. While a bit of a simplification, this rings largely true. If you know what you're doing, you'll be able to succeed, even if perhaps with some effort. And that's very much the case in our game of checkers.

In the problem above, White is a piece up and should easily win, correct? And indeed the win isn't that hard--- if you are able to visualize it. In other words, if you know how.

There are actually two winning moves; one wraps things up pretty nicely, while the other wins but takes more effort. Save yourself some time; find the faster win. After all, this is a speed problem! With the time you save, get yourself some coffee and cake and relax a little.

See how you do and then, quick-quick, click-click your mouse on Read More to see the solution.

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Govan is indeed a run-down area of Glasgow, which however for years was home of the Govan Press, a local newspaper which apparently published checker columns. For today's Checker School entry, we have a problem by famous problemist S. J. Pickering, which was published in that (presumably at least somewhat illustrious) newspaper way back when. The problem illustrates a number of important checker tactics.

In fact, there is a comparable problem attributed to another famous checkerist, Barker Woolhouse (you can learn all about him on the marvelous Start Checkers site).

So today you have not one, but two problems to work on. They aren't especially hard but they are quite educational. So stay out of run-down neighborhoods and instead solve these problems, then run your mouse down on Read More to see the solutions.

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The National Checker League season continued on, and it wasn't quite like other seasons. The newspapers remarked on it:

"What's going on this year in the NCL? There have been some strange and unexplained losses. Normally good players are making mistakes that even lesser players wouldn't make. Lower ranked teams are pulling upsets over higher ranked teams. We're wondering; is there something being released into the air at Checkerdromes around the country? Is there some sort of ailment that is striking only professional checker players? Checker fans want to know."

It was puzzling as well to Marvin J. Mavin, the superstar Captain of the highly rated Detroit Doublejumpers. He continued to read:

"We've contacted NCL Comissioner Axel Homeboy, and his comments were suprisingly laconic. 'What makes checkers exciting,' he said, 'is that anything can and does happen.' We didn't find that to be much in the way of an explanation but Mr. Homeboy had nothing further to say."

"Yeah," Marvin muttered, "stuff happens that ain't supposed to happen." He was in his study in his wife's enormous condo in suburban Detroit; she (Priscilla) was at work downtown. The Doublejumpers had an off-day during a home stand and Coach Baba Dudut had given the team the day off with no practices called. He turned back to the newspaper:

"Checker Weekly spoke with a number of Coaches, although a few would not even answer our questions. Those that did said things like, "I don't get it" or "It's rather disconcerting" or "What are you getting at?" as if they were being accused of something. In short, we weren't able to gain any insights. Checker Weekly will inform its readers further when additional information becomes available."

The newspaper story went on to describe various situations which had occurred over the board, such as this one, in a game between Roddy Ruddy of the Portland Paisleys and Suzie Sheeshee of the Denver Dennys:

Ruddy had played 16-12 here and blew away the win. Then after 1-5 he blundered again with 22-18 and eventually lost. The newspaper berated him for amateur play and tried to interview Ruddy but his coach wouldn't allow Ruddy to speak to the press.

Of course some funny things had happened right within the Doublejumper organzation (see our previous episode), and even though Marvin was Captain, Coach refused to discuss it with him, reminding Marvin that he wasn't in charge of the team and instructing him to just worry about his own quality of play.

Marvin briefly wondered if he should go over Coach's head and talk to the Doublejumper team owner, Nelson Chester Abernathy the 3rd. But that could go wrong and get Marvin fired, and after talking it over with Priscilla he decided "it is nought good a slepying hound to wake" a phrase Priscilla liked to quote from Chaucer.

But just then Marvin's cell phone rang.

"Hullo?" Marvin said. "Oh, wait, I gotta press the button first, like, okay ... there ... yeah, hullo?"

"Mr. Mavin?" a voice on the other end asked.

"Uh, yup, but like hey, nobody don't hardly call me 'Mr. Mavin' and them that do, they ain't got this phone number ... "

"Well, I have your number. I'm an investigative reporter and I'm very good at finding things out. My name is Carol Catchem from the New York Herald Star, and I'm working with sportswriter Willie Bill Williamson on a story about the NCL."

"Uh, yeah, so ... like ... ain't you supposed to call our whatchacallit --- media department or something? 'Cause we gotta get permission and stuff to talk with the press ... "

"Oh, this won't amount to anything much. You don't need permission, I cleared it with my people. So it's just a question or two, starting with, do you follow the checker news?"

"'Course I do, I play pro checkers. Hey I thought you said you knew how to find stuff out. Ain't it like obvious?"

"Just doing fact checking," Carol replied. "So for instance have you seen the latest in Checker Weekly? The article asking what's going on this year in the NCL?"

"Yeah, I seen it," Marvin said. 'I just got done reading it in fact. How'd you know that?"

There was a chuckle on Carol's end. "Like I said ... but what I want to know is what you think about the article."

"They wrote it real good," Marvin said.

Now there was a groan on Carol's end. "Sure, sure Marvin, but what about the content?"

"Well, they asked lots a questions and they didn't answer none of 'em because nobody around the league wouldn't tell them nothing."

"So, Marvin, how would you answer their questions? What is going on around the league?"

"Well, now, I ain't sure I oughta ... "

"Oh come on, just a word or two. It won't hurt anything and it's just for information."

"Uh ... um ... okay. It's like, there's all this weird stuff with players making dumb moves and losing games and players who ain't all that good winning games and stuff that shouldn't be happening. I don't get it either but it ain't right. We even had a game or two on our team ... but I better keep quiet about that."

"So why do think this is happening? You say it's even on your own team. What does your Coach think? What do you think?"

"Coach don't say nothing to me cause he says it ain't my business. I dunno. It's just all weird and I don't know nothing more."

Was that a chuckle? Marvin could almost picture Carol smiling. "Thank you Marvin," she said, "you've been very helpful."

The connection ended. Carol must have hung up. Marvin sat a moment, staring at his phone before setting it down and then turning to the latest issue of All Checkers Digest.

Marvin arrived at the Detroit Checkerdrome a few minutes ahead of 1 PM practice the next day; the Doublejumpers would be facing the Los Angeles Leapers in the evening.

"Coach wants to see you in his office right away," one of the attendants said.

Marvin went down the hall and out in the office area. He knocked on the door marked Head Coach.

"Enter," came the voice of Coach Baba Dudut. Marvin opened the door and walked in.

"Close the door and remain standing," Coach ordered gruffly.

"What ... "

"And keep silent. Here, pick this up." It was a copy of the morning edition of the New York Herald-Times. "Read the lead story."

Marvin reached down to Coach's desk and picked up the newspaper. To his surprise and dismay he saw a big headline:

Checker Star Can't Explain NCL Happenings

The byline was "Carol Catchem" and the story began:

"Your reporter spoke with Marvin J. Mavin, noted checker luminary and Captain of the Detroit Doublejumpers. We asked him about the strange happenings around the NCL. Mr. Mavin said he had noticed these things too and that there had even been odd events taking place on his own team. He had tried to speak to his coach about it but was turned away and threatened with disciplinary action ... "

The story went on for a few more paragraphs.

Coach stood up and leaned his fists on his desk. "First, what were you doing talking to this famous muckraker without permission?"

Marvin, now completely taken aback, replied in a stammer, "Uh, she like told me she cleared it with her people and stuff."

"She may have cleared it with her people but she sure didn't clear it with ours!" Coach shouted. "That's number one! Number two is where do you think you get the right to talk about what goes on with our team?"

"Well, gee, I just ... "

"You just what? What you just did was start a big scandal with us in the middle of it! Mr. Abernathy is very upset and chewed me out big time. I ought to kick you right off the team and out of professional checkers, but then I'd have to mess with the union and do a lot of paperwork. So I won't. But you're benched for this series! Maxie Minima will go on 5th board and everyone else will move up a slot. You'll be on the bench, and if anything like this ever happens again, union or no union, you'll never play checkers again! I'll break all your fingers and then kick you out of the league! Do you understand me!"

Marvin could barely speak. "Yeah, I mean, yes, Coach, I get it."

"You better get it! Now go on home, I don't even want to see you in the Checkerdrome, or anywhere, until after this series is over!"

Marvin figured he had better do as he was told. He drove on home. He'd discuss the situation with Priscilla when she got home from work. Maybe she would have some insights.

But Marvin really wondered. Maxie Minima wouldn't have been the top choice to fill in while Marvin was benched. Once again he didn't know what Coach was thinking.

# # #

The New York Herald-Times Overseas Edition was printed in Berlin and didn't arrive in Sofia until a bit later in the evening in the Sofia time zone. She always picked up a copy at the local newsstand as soon as it was available.

But this evening she was not pleased. The lead story would create problems for her. It could even derail the plan if things were left to go on their own. And although more money was starting to come in, that flow could easily be interrupted if things went awry. Action would have to be taken, and it would have to be swift and sure.

She would need to meet with her Bulgarian "associates" and get them to act through their network in the United States.

She angrily tossed the newspaper into a trash bin. It was time to go to their usual meeting place. The boys would be there, drinking their vodka, as they did just about every night. Things would be arranged. A price would be paid. She would not allow her plans to be thwarted or even delayed.

Nothing would stop her.

To be continued.

---

Ruddy should have won and even with his first blunder should have drawn. Can you find the win that Ruddy missed? Click on Read More when you're ready to check your solution.

[Read More]

"I wouldn't mind being a millionaire," said Louie the Flash, "and I'm sure my girlfriend wouldn't mind if I was either."

"Sure," said Mike, "if you were a millionaire you might keep a girlfriend longer than a month!"

"Hey," Louie replied, "I've been with Hortense now for ... uh, well ... I guess it's only three weeks but it's looking really good."

"I watched that new TV show, too," Dan said, "about that guy that gives a million dollars to someone and then we see how everything goes wrong. Like the one the other night about that school teacher ..."

"Too much money all at once can be a problem; people don't handle it well," said Wayne, "but I wouldn't mind trying it myself. Too bad that's just a TV show."

The Coffee and Cake Checker Club had just begun their regular Saturday afternoon meeting at the Beacon Cafe. A number of the "boys" were on hand (all but one of them 50 years old at a minimum). The club met from just after Labor Day until just before Memorial Day to solve checker problems, talk checkers, and play skittles games. However today the talk had drifted off to the topic of that new TV show "The Millionaire" which had just come on the air in the last couple of weeks.

But Sal Westerman, the club's unoffical leader, spoke up and said, "This is all very interesting, boys, but I've got a checker problem that's at lot more interesting. How about you take it on now?"

The tradition was that if the boys could solve the weekly problem, Sal would buy everyone the fabulous baked treats that Deana, the Beacon's proprietess, had on offer. If they couldn't solve it the boys would buy for Sal and his wife.

"I've got fresh fudge brownies," Deana called out from behind her counter, and then added with a laugh, "baked from my million dollar recipe!"

The boys laughed too, and Sal set up the following position on one of the boards in the big booth at the back of the cafe.

"Now," Sal said, "you don't get a million minutes to solve it. But seeing as how this problem is from my friend Ed in Pennsylvania, I'll give you a full hour. He calls it 'Land's End'."

Ed was one of Sal's checker pen pals and was known for his clever, if often difficult, problem compositions.

Deana refilled everyone's coffee mugs and the boys dug into the problem.

---

We can't offer you a million dollars, and neither can we offer you fudge brownies. But do try to solve the problem, and then click on Read More to see the solution.

[Read More]

The press. It might refer to a printing press, as above, or perhaps a press reporter. Or maybe pressing clothes, as shown below.

There are also a coffee press, press-on nails, and many other things. But in checkers, of course, press has its own meaning, and if you solve today's Checker School problem, you'll see an example. (There ... we've already given a big hint.) The problem is attributed to one E. J. Rees and appears in Andrew Banks' eclectic book Checker Board Strategy.

This one isn't particularly hard, although there's an unusual twist. Press on and find the solution. No press-ure; take all the time you wish, and then press your mouse on Read More to see the solution and some interesting notes.

[Read More]

The expression "Can't win for losing" traces back to at least 1920 when it was used to describe the Detroit Tigers baseball team, which apparently was not having a good start to their season.

This phrase applies specifically to our game of checkers as well, if we alter the context a little. There are positions in which all moves lose--- except one, which wins or draws as the case may be. This happens very often. A little less frequently, there are series of such moves, which are called "star moves" being the only moves that avoid loss or preserve a win or draw.

Here's one such situation, sent along by regular contributors Lloyd and "Gosh Josh" Gordon.

Here both sides have to watch their steps to obtain a draw. Can you avoid losing? Maybe you can't win, but can you at least hold the draw? Give it a go. It's a little beyond a normal first Saturday speed problem but it's worth a little extra time and effort. Do click on Read More to verify your play.

[Read More]

The Detroit Doublejumpers were in Tampa, Florida, for a match with the Tampa Tinsleys, a very strong team in the American Conference Eastern Division of the National Checker League. Led by superstar captain Marvin J. Mavin, the Doublejumpers were favored to win, but the odds line was close at 5-4 in favor of the Doublejumpers.

As regular readers know, National Checker League matches are five boards to a side, with the highest rated player on the first board and so on down to the fifth board. Of course, in professional checkers at the Major League level, a fifth board starter was ranked at least as a master and was a very skilled checkerist.

In our previous episode, Marvin had remarked on the unexpected loss of a strong player to a lower ranked player in a match played in Dallas. He had since noted a couple of other similar anomalies, but didn't pursue the matter any further.

But now, with the Doublejumpers on a lengthy road trip, it was time to focus on the match with Tampa. The Doublejumpers would play a three match series here, then move on to Miami for another three matches prior to going to Dallas, and then on to St. Louis before finally returning to Detroit. It would be two weeks before Marvin would get to see his wife, Priscilla, back in the suburbs of the city.

Pre-game practice went along as usual and Coach Baba Dudut then prepared the starting lineup. He announced it to the team.

"Marvin, first board. I better see a good showing with no attitude."

"Yes, coach," Marvin said meekly. "You got it."

Coach glared a little and continued. "Panko Ryder, second board. Jimmy Jack Johnson, third board. Suzie Brankovich, fourth board."

Coach then hesitated a moment before continuing. "And Steve Moscovitch, fifth board."

The team murmured a little. The usual fifth board player this season was Sarah Hotchkiss, and she had played well so far, winning most of her games. Steve Moscovitch was the lowest rated player on the Doublejumper team and had only seen action as a very occasional substitute. He had not played all that well and rumor was he might soon be sent down to the Doublejumpers AAA farm team.

"You people have a problem?" demanded Coach upon hearing the muttering. "I make the decisions around here and I make them in the best interests of the team. You don't like it, go play for some other team."

The muttering died down but the look on the faces of the players told a different story.

It was soon time for the match to begin. The Tampa Checkerdrome was sold out and 50,000 avid checker fans were awaiting what would likely be a close contest. While most of the fans were from the local area and would cheer for the Tinsleys, there was a sizeable group who had come down from Detroit to see their team and take a bit of a vacation near the waters of Tampa Bay.

The starting lineups were announced over the stadium's PA system. When Detroit's fifth board was announced, there was more audible muttering, this time from the Detroit audience. Sarah Hotchkiss was a favorite of the fans and won hearts everywhere she went with her fine play, pleasant personality, and decided strength of character. Steve Moscovitch, on the other hand, was viewed as someone on his way out.

After the National Anthem, the players took their places at their checkerboards and the referee blew his whistle. His cry of "Play Checkers!" resounded throughout the stadium and the match began.

Indeed, it was close. The Doublejumpers drew on first and second board, with both Marvin and Panko unable to get a win against the strong Tampa players. The Doublejumpers lost on the third board and won on the fourth in games that were hard fought and close.

It was now all down to fifth board. Steve had been playing very slowly. By the rules, he needed a win to carry the day for the Doublejumpers. A draw, on the other hand, would leave the score tied at 5-5 but tiebreak rules gave precedence to wins on the higher boards, so the Tinsleys would win the match if Steve only drew.

The fifth board for the Tinsleys, Agatha Agarawal, was a pretty good player. But she tended to play a little too fast. The result was a position in which Steve was to play, and he had a possible win. However he only had a minute left on his clock while Agatha had twelve minutes.

Steve's clock was running and he seemed ready to make his move. He reached out, and then suddenly drew his hand back. He stood up from the board, stretched his arms over his head, moved his legs up and down, and then did a pirouette. The big crowd in the stands again was muttering. What was Steve up to? His clock was now down to ten seconds. Steve grabbed the top of his chair as if to begin to sit down, but he knocked it over, and, rather than just make his move, he slowly picked it up.

"Time!" Agatha called out, pointing to the clock. Indeed, Steve had run out of time and thereby lost the game. The Tinsleys had won by a score of 6-4.

Coach Baba Dudut ran out onto the field and started yelling at Steve. But Marvin noticed that Steve didn't have the scared look that most players have when yelled at by Coach. Neither did he have a defiant look. In fact, Coach's angry look wasn't the same as the one Marvin was used to.

A disappointed team walked off the field that evening. The hometown fans were happy, of course. But the Detroit contingent was left to wonder just what happened.

The next day it was announced that Steve Moscovitch, rather than get sent down to a farm club, had quit the Doublejumpers and made his exit from professional checkers. It was something quite unusual. Players often would be moved back and forth between the major and minor leagues, but few of them abandoned their careers altogether.

Sarah Hotchkiss resumed her usual place on fifth board and the Doublejumper road trip continued. The Doublejumpers split the next two matches with the Tinsleys, but that left Tampa with a 2-1 edge in the three match series, and it was enough to put them into first place in the American League East division of the National Checker League.

It was just a small one bedroom apartment in an old run down building in the Lyulin area of Sofia, but she knew she'd be moving to better quarters before too long. Things were starting to work out and the money, now mostly a trickle, would eventually turn into a flood.

It had taken her a while to settle in Sofia, after some time in other Eastern European cities like Warsaw, Prague, and a couple of others. It had taken her even longer to learn enough Bulgarian to start to make the contacts she needed. But she was good at that kind of thing.

Eventually she found a group with which she could work. The Bulgarian underworld wasn't trusting of foreigners, but she was very convincing and could be very charming or very tough as the occasion demanded. Building out her network took time, but she had enough side hustles to keep her going until things were at a point where she had enough control to start making some moves.

Oh, would they ever be surprised back home. But they wouldn't suspect anything until it was too late, and they would never suspect her involvement.

She went into the apartment's tiny kitchen to make herself some tea. A few roaches scuttled along the kitchen floor and the stove just consisted of an ancient hot plate. Never mind, better days were coming. For her, at least. Not for her victims back home.

She almost laughed aloud. Revenge would be sweet, and the money wouldn't hurt anything either.

It had been quite a long road trip, and except for that one unexpected loss in Tampa, the Doublejumpers had done very well. Marvin himself had played good checkers and was satisified with his performance. Of course Coach Baba Dudut wasn't one to give out much praise, especially to Marvin.

And Marvin still felt somewhat uneasy. He couldn't especially put his finger on just why, but it was a really odd kind of feeling. Something was a bit off with Coach, and there were just other nagging little things.

When he finally returned home, at a late evening hour, his wife, Priscilla, noticed his mood.

"What you need is a nice glass of wine, dear, to help you relax. I'm sure it's all just stress from the long road trip."

"Yeah, honey, maybe I'll grab a can of beer," Marvin replied, "and then hit the hay."

Priscilla scowled, but only a little, as she hadn't seen Marvin for a couple of weeks. Ordinarily she didn't like to see Marvin drinking beer out of a can; she said it was uncouth and low-class.

"Whatever you like," she said.

Marvin had his beer and slept uneasily, dreaming of wrong moves and game clocks that ran out.

To be continued.

---

What move should Steve have played to secure the win, had he not done strange antics? His antics are not the only strange thing going on, it seems. We hope nothing particularly strange is going on where you are and you'll have a chance to solve the position. Give it a try and then click on Read More to see the solution.

[Read More]

It was Saturday, February 12, 1955, and Valentine's Day was just two days away.

But in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Saturday afternoons between Labor Day and Memorial Day, the Coffee and Cake Checker Club met at the Beacon Cafe in the Provident Life Building. Led informally by elderly Sal Westerman, the club solved problems, talked and played checkers, and enjoyed fabulous baked treats made by the proprietess, Deana Nagel.

All of the "boys" in the club, save one, were over 50 years of age. Most had been married for many years, except for Young Blaine, a relative newlywed, and Louie the Flash, who despite being about 55 years old went from girlfriend to girlfriend over and over again.

The weather was overcast with the temperature in the 40s, which was rather mild for a Bismarck winter, and there was a goodly sized gathering at the Cafe. In addition to Sal, there was Dan, Wayne, Louie, Young Blaine, Delmer, Larry, Ron, Spooler, and even Old Frank, who didn't attend all that often.

Over their first cup of coffee the boys talked about Valentine's Day. For once, Sal had laid in a gift for his wife Sylvia in advance of the holiday. Most of the boys had done the same, and while the group liked to tease Young Blaine, he too was on top of things.

Surprisingly, it was Old Frank who still hadn't shopped or made plans. Now Frank, who was indeed the eldest, being older than Sal by a few years, had been married for something like 60 years.

"I've run out of ideas," he said simply. "So many Valentine's Days, so many gifts, I just can't think of anything new. And with tomorrow being Sunday, I don't really have much time. But I'm sure Mabelle will understand."

"You think so?" asked Wayne. "Tell me, have you ever missed a Valentine's Day?"

"Well, I did once or twice, I suppose ... "

"And how did that work out for you?" Wayne continued.

Old Frank hesitated and then stammered, "Uh, um, uh ... "

"Not so well?" Dan chimed in.

"Okay, all right, the one time Mabelle was kind of upset. And the second time she was really angry and made me cook my own meals for a week."

"So you suppose the third time's the charm?" Delmer asked. "Or will it be strike three, you're out? Do you really want to risk it?"

"Um, I guess not ... " Old Frank said.

Sal then said, "Okay then, here's what we'll do. I have a nice little problem for all of you today. Let's get into it, and when we're done, Old Frank will still have a couple of hours before A.W. Lucas closes. I have a feeling that any gift will be far better than no gift, even if it's something you've given many times before."

"She does like bath oil," Old Frank mused, "although I've given her that a good dozen or more times."

"Then get some bath oil," Sal said. "It won't take long and you can still come back in time for some of Deana's treats."

"Valentine heart cookies today," Deana called out from behind her counter. "Baked fresh today!"

Sal then laid out the problem shown below on a couple of the checkerboards in the big booth occupied by the boys at the back of the Cafe. The tradition was for Sal to buy the treats if the boys could solve the problem, and for the boys to buy for Sal and his wife Sylvia if they couldn't solve it.

"You have until 2 PM," Sal said, "as we want Old Frank to have some time to do his shopping."

The boys, including Old Frank, had for the moment set aside thoughts of Valentine's Day and were busily engaged with the checker problem.

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This column will appear on Valentine's Day, 2026, and we don't know if you've "taken care of business" so to speak, should that apply to your personal situation. But no matter what, you can still solve the problem and then click on Read More to see the solution and the rest of our story.

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Alex Moiseyev's long-awaited 2nd book, All My Games, is finally available. Many years in the making (his first book was Sixth published in 2006), this new book is packed with an incredible amount of exciting material.

Mr. Moiseyev, as we all know, is a titled Grandmaster who held the title of 3-Move World Champion for many years, and is the currently reigning and nine time 11 Man Ballot World Champion. He embodies the fighting spirit of a true champion, always ready to take on any and all challengers. Yet he is also always ready to lend a helping hand to others and to vigorously promote the game of checkers. And so, it is a thrill and a privilege to review Mr. Moiseyev's latest book.

First, who is the book for? In terms of technical difficulty, it's quite variable, as Alex has indeed very admirably published all his games including those with blunders and those played at less than grandmaster level. Of course there are also all the many games with brilliancies and top level play. So there is something for everyone, from neophyte checkerist to strong grandmaster. And surely everyone will enjoy Mr. Moiseyev's unique and entertaining commentary.

The book contains fascinating biographical and anecdotal material, but its heart consists of games, problems, and annotations.

The first section features selected games and matches, such as Mr. Moiseyev's games with Louis Cowrie, a Covid-era "Zoom" tournament, and several others. These are all well annotated. At the end of the section, Mr. Moiseyev has diagrammed critical positions from many of the games and presented them in somewhat of a checker problem format, with lightly annotated solutions.

The next section comprises, indeed, "all my games" or actually, around half of them, from 1997 through 2013 (the rest of the games are promised for a future sequel). This amounts to a lot of games. They are all unannotated but you can certainly explore them on your own or with a strong computer engine.

However once more at the end of this section Mr. Moiseyev has diagrammed critical positions from many of the games, over 1,300 of them, providing an enormous wealth of additional study material for the aspiring player and challenges for the keen problemist. Solutions again are lightly annotated.

In each section, games are helpfully indexed by year, by player, and by opening. Mr. Moiseyev also provides year by year review and commentary which makes for fascinating reading and documents the progress of his career.

The book concludes with a section in full color, presenting 13 of Mr. Moiseyev's original problem compositions, with detailed solutions.

As we said, there is a lot here and this is a book that anyone with a genuine interest in checkers will wish to have.

The book is about 580 pages in length and is offered in a print on demand case laminate hardcover edition. It is nicely typeset and attractive in appearance. Your editor is pleased to have been able to assist Mr. Moiseyev in helping him through the Ingram-Spark print on demand publication process.

If there is any drawback, it is that the book, being a hardcover with full-color pages, is not inexpensive. But for a book that provides so much information, instruction, and entertainment, one can consider it an investment rather than an expense.

The book is available for order on-line from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sources. It is easily located and is highly recommended. Do be patient when you order, as print on demand delivery times can be a bit extended. But it will be well worth the wait.

With Mr. Moiseyev's kind permission we're pleased to present one of his original compositions, The Sandwich.

Take your time to savor this one; it's quite tasty. When you're ready, slice your mouse on Read More to see the solution and full set of notes.

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