The famed checker editor Manson D. Teetzel, whose career spanned decades of checker publishing, originally came from the town of West Lorne, in Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. No doubt "Teetzel" as he simply liked to call himself, would have been familiar with a scene similar to the one shown above, a beautiful photo of the Canadian shores of Lake Erie, not far from Mr. Teetzel's home town. (The photo is presented courtesy of photographer Rick Blaxall; more of Mr. Blaxall's work can be seen here.)

Teetzel later moved to the United States, where he published American Checker Monthly and for which he is probably best known. But while still in Ontario, he produced The Canadian Checker Player, and it's a problem from the latter journal that we present today. Teetzel didn't give an attribution for the problem; he simply set it forth, something over a century ago.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:WK22,20,K19,12:BK31,K27,25,18,3.

Black is a man up, but that's about to change as White is going to even the tally on his next move. Yet Black can still win. Can you figure out how? You don't have to be Canadian to find the solution, you just have to be a Checker Player. Give it a try and then click on Read More to see the solution.

Solution

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:WK22,20,K19,12:BK31,K27,25,18,3.

18-23---B 22x29---A 27-32 19x26 31x22 20-16 32-27 16-11 27-23 11-8 23-18 8-4 3-7---C 12-8---D 18-14 8-3 22-17 3x10 14x7---E 29-25 7-11 25-30 17-22 Black Wins.

A---19-26 25-30 Black Wins.

B---25-29 22-15 only gets a draw.

C---Black does not have the move, so 18-15 isn't an immediate win.

D---4-8 7-11 8-15 19-11 Black Wins.

E---Now Black has the move and can wrap up the game. A very instructive situation.