https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9108245 CC BY 4.0

Sometimes in a checker game you try to achieve a certain position, formation, or situation; and at times it's just the opposite, and you need to execute an avoidance maneuver. That principle leads us to this month's first teaser.

Here's the layout:

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

Look easy enough? It's a bit easier than some others we've featured, but this one has been known to frustrate experienced players. Give a whirl, keeping the title in mind, and then click on Read More to check your solution. Were you able to ..... oops, we'd better not give it away!

Solution

Did you figure out the first part of the theme, namely that First Position losses for White come up rather easily if you're not careful? "Avoiding First Position" could have been the title, but then we would have spoiled the fun. And, an incredible 1-holds-3 variant of the time-honored Double-Corner Block makes up the rest of the theme of this highly entertaining and instructive problem.

7-10 15-19 10-15 A 19-24 15-19 24-27 30-26 22-31 19-23 27-32 21-17 31-27 23-26 27-24 26-23. Drawn. See the animation.

A 10-14 28-32 14-9 32-27 9-13 27-23 21-17 23-18 17-14 18-9 13-6 Black Wins by First Position. See animation A.

Attributed variously to W.C. Belden, W.G. Parker, and R. Bush and first published in the 1890s.