The Checker Maven
Jump to navigationEvery Way You Look At It, You Lose
In Simon and Garfunkel's famous song Mrs. Robinson in the movie The Graduate, there are these famous lyrics:
"When you've got to choose
Every way you look at it you lose."
Seems like something that might often apply to our game of checkers, but do the lyrics apply to the following position?
WHITE
White to Play and Draw
W:W14,19,23,24,25,27,30,32:B1,3,5,7,12,16,17,20
Well, not quite every way you look at it. There's one and only one way to draw in this position. Can you find it? This is not really a speed problem but neither is it too difficult; perhaps it's on the edge between "easy" and "medium." In any case don't be like Mrs. Robinson. Choose but don't lose, then click on Read More to check your solution.
Solution
23-18---A 16x23 14-10 7x14 18x9 5x14 27x9 20x27 32x23 Drawn.
A---This problem is all about finding the right first move. With anything else (every way you look at it) you lose. (Play may vary in the following examples.)
25-21 17-22 21-17 1-6 17-13 7-10 14x7 3x10 32-28 5-9 and White loses material.
30-26 17-21 25-22 21-25 22-17 25-30 26-22 30-26 22-18 7-10 14x7 3x10 18-15 26-30 15x6 1x10 17-13 30-25 32-28 25-22 and White loses material.
19-15? 16-19 23x16 12x28 Black Wins.
32-28 7-10 14x7 3x10 25-21 17-22 21-17 5-9 17-13 10-14 13x6 1x10 and White loses material.
Our thanks to our regular Toronto based contributors, Lloyd and "Gosh Josh" Gordon, for sending this one along.
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