Once again, we thought we were fresh out of puns on the word "stroke." But then we found this:

Now, we know about checker strokes, and we know about checker engines (for computers), but we've yet to see a checker stroke engine, much less a 4-stroke engine. So instead we'll just go ahead and present you with one of our top of the month stroke problems, and let you use your own mental engine to come up with the solution.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W9,K11,12,16,17,18,22,27:B1,2,3,10,25,K26,K29.

While not necessarily simple, this one is easier than some of the others seen in our columns. Chug away on all cylinders and when you're ready, click on Read More to open the valves leading to the answer.

Solution

9-6 2x9 18-15 10x19 17-13 26x17 13x6 1x10 12-8 3x12 27-23 19x26 11-7 12x19 7x16 29-25 16-11 25-22 11-15 22-26 15-18 White Wins.

Yes, we know stroke problems are not usually practical or realistic, but they provide wonderful practice in visualization, and we find today's problem especially pleasing in its execution. We hope you too enjoyed it.