This month's speed problems come from actual play on the GoldToken turn-based game site. The first one is a nice win crafted by a rather skilled player who calls himself Lost Soul for reasons to which we are not privy; but this skilled player is anything but lost when playing over the board! The problem is in the easy category, and we're allowing you 15 seconds to solve it.

The second problem is a neat victory gained by Larry OTC. Again, we're not sure what "OTC" means, but we doubt that it's "over the counter"; could it be "one terrific checkerist"? Only Larry knows for sure; but we rate the problem as medium in difficulty and give you 60 seconds to find the right moves.

October Speed Problem 1 (easy)

October Speed Problem 2 (medium)

Don't lose your own soul over these problems; salvation is at hand by simply clicking on Read More to see the solutions.

Solutions

October Speed Problem 1

In this position Lost Soul quickly pulled off a nice 3-for-2 shot to win at once:

19-23 26-19 11-15 18-11 7-32 Black Wins.

October Speed Problem 2

Black had just blundered with 1-6 (rather than 20-24, which draws). White took advantage of this very neatly by 19-15 11-16 15-10 6-15 18-11 leaving Black completely out of safe moves. White Wins. Well done, Larry!