The Checker Maven
Jump to navigationHarder Than You Think
Riding a sheep is a lot harder than you think, as this young fellow at a rodeo is finding out.
Even in day to day life, some things do turn out to be harder than you think. Any one of us can think of numerous examples.
Now, in our game of checkers, certain positions are surprisingly hard, much harder than they look and much harder than you think.
Although this column appears on the first Saturday of the month, our traditional "speed problem" day, today's problem isn't quite a speed problem. It's really all about finding the right first move and then the follow-up will be fairly clear for most players, even if it's a number of moves in length. So see how fast you can find the winning move. It may perhaps surprise you and depending on your skill level you may find it harder than you think.
WHITE
White to Play and Win
W:W19,K22,23,24,27,30,32:B8,12,13,16,20,21,K31
If you don't see the solution right away, try harder. When you're ready, though, you won't have to try very hard to click your mouse on Read More to see the solution.
Solution
We've presented what we think is a reasonable line of play. Variations are possible and we'd like to hear from you if you can improve on the solution presented here. The computer solution featured a raft of moves that a human wouldn't play, so we've omitted it.
| 1. | ... | 23-18 |
| 2. | 16x23 | 24-19 |
| 3. | 31x15 | 18x4 |
| 4. | 20-24 | 4-8 |
| 5. | 12-16 | 8-11 |
| 6. | 16-20 | 11-16 |
| 7. | 24-28 | 16-19 |
| 8. | 23-27 | 32x23 |
| 9. | 20-24 | 22-26 |
| 10. | 24-27 | 26-31 |
| 11. | 27-32 | 19-15 |
| 12. | 13-17 | 15-18 |
White Wins.
Our thanks to regular contributors Lloyd and "Gosh Josh" Gordon for sending us this one.
The Checker Maven is produced at editorial offices in Honolulu, Hawai`i, as a completely non-commercial public service from which no income is obtained or sought. Original material is Copyright © 2004-2026 Avi Gobbler Publishing. Other material is public domain, AI generated, as attributed, or licensed under CC1, CC2, CC3 or CC4 and the various CC options. Information presented on this site is offered as-is, at no cost, and bears no express or implied warranty as to accuracy or usability. You agree that you use such information entirely at your own risk. No liabilities of any kind under any legal theory whatsoever are accepted. The Checker Maven is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Bob Newell, Sr.
