By Peter Van den Bossche from Mechelen, Belgium
Streets of Govan, a run-down area of Glasgow, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

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.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:B5,15,22,K13:W7,30,K6,K16

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).

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

W:B11,K19,K26:W8,14,18

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.

Solutions

The Pickering problem:

22-26 30-23 13-17 6-10 15-19 23-18 17-22 16-23 22-6 Drawn.

In Andrew J. Banks' entertaining book, Checker Board Strategy, Mr. Banks notes about this problem: "These few moves illustrate a sacrifice, two for one threat, pushaway, and spare move. Try to apply superior force at a critical time when the opposition is vulnerable."

The Woolhouse problem:

14-9 26-22 18-14 22-17 14-10 17-14 9-6 14-7 8-3---A Drawn.

A---7-10 (or 7-2) 3-8 Drawn.

We hope you found these little problems interesting and useful.