We certainly hope the young lady in the photo wasn't hiking alone, as she's just taken a pretty little slip and might need a bit of help. And indeed, we're going to hear about another kind of slip in today's column--- a slip-shot, that useful and often winning checker maneuver wherein our man "slips" behind an enemy man while our opponent is distracted by a compulsory jump elsewhere on the board. Our example comes from Willie Ryan's Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard and Willie will explain it himself.

"Throughout my book, I have tried to emphasize the importance of stroke strategy in overpowering losing moves. Here is a well-known Edinburgh development in which the losing move at A (15-19) can be beaten only by driving black into a well-concealed slip-shot finale.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W18,20,21,22,23,26,31,32:B7,5,9,10,11,15,16,19.

A---Standard play to here. The text move loses; the only way white can beat it is by forcing black into the stroke that follows. The correct move at A is: 9-13*; then 27-23, 5-9, 20-16, 12-19, 23-7, 2-11, 26-23, 13-17, 22-13, 15-22, 32-28, 9-14, 28-24, 14-17*, 23-18, 17-21, 24-19, 22-25, 31-27, 25-29, 27-24, 29-25, 24-20, 25-29, 30-26, 29-25, 26-22, 11-15, bringing about a draw. J. W. Jacobson.

B---Nothing better. If play continues with 2-7, 23-16, 12-19, then white will win with 32-28, 9-13 (10-14, 26-23, 19-26, 30-23, 6-10, 31-27, 9-13, 18-9, 5-14, 22-18, 14-17, 23-19, 17-22, 27-24 white wins), 31-27, 5-9 (6-9, 27-23), 27-24, 10-15, 26-23, 19-26, 30-23, 13-17, 22-13, 15-22, 23-19, 7-10, 19-16, 11-15, 24-19, 15-24, 28-19, etc. Wm. F. Ryan."

1---A blunder. We think Willie may have missed this one, as KingsRow now rates the position dead even, and gives 32-28 instead as the move to hold the winning edge---Ed.

2---But this gives the win back; 9-13 would draw---Ed.

3---Loses quickly, whereas 10-14 would have been much better, though still not enough to draw. However the text move leads to a very flashy finish, as you'll see when you work it out---Ed.

Find the winning moves in the diagram above, but don't slip up! Instead, when you've worked out your answer, slip your mouse over to Read More to tumble upon Willie's solution.

Solution

"Continue: 22-17* (comes the slip and the slaughter), 15-22, 17-14, 10-17, 21-14, 9-27, 31-8, 22-31, 20-2, and white wins. Wm. F. Ryan".