Memorial Day weekend was coming up and it was the last Saturday afternoon meeting of the Coffee and Cake Checker Club before the summer break.

As our regular readers know, the club met weekly from just after Labor Day until just before Memorial Day at the Beacon Cafe in the Provident Life Building in Bismarck, North Dakota. The year was 1955 and the informal club leader was Sal Westerman, an elderly gentlemen who loved his Saturday afternoons with the "boys" as he called them, even though all but one of them was over 50 years in age, and some, like Sal, considerably more so.

But the discussion this afternoon was about that one younger member. Usually at the last meeting of the season, the boys would all talk about their plans for the summer. Today, however, Young Blaine was once again the topic of conversation (see previous Checker Maven stories for further background).

Blaine had been engaged to Moira for over a year now and Moira had pressed him to set a wedding date. Blaine, after much prompting and not so thinly veiled threats--- Moira called them promises--- about moving on, Blaine relented.

In short, the wedding was set for June and all of the boys were invited. It would take place in Minot, North Dakota, Young Blaine's original home, about 90 miles north of Bismarck.

Young Blaine, as usual, was red-faced as the boys alternately teased him and plied him with questions.

"So, a big wedding with hundreds of guests, a marching band, a steak and lobster banquet, and so on?" Dan asked. "Seems like the minimum for someone who's waited so long."

"Hey wait a minute," Young Blaine said, "Moira's parents are paying for most of this. They aren't exactly super wealthy. It will be a nice, modest wedding, with quite a few guests but what Moira calls a 'small and tasteful' reception. Sorry, guys, no steak and lobster. She's talking about finger sandwiches."

"You mean those things where the cut off the crust and roll them up? And they're filled with colored cream cheese or something?" Wayne said.

"I'm leaving all that up to Moira," Young Blaine replied, "I know better than to try to even suggest anything to her. I'd like hot dogs and burgers, actually, but it'd be about worth my life to say so."

"Well," Sal intervened, "I"m sure all of us that can be there will be there. I'm grateful for your invitation and Sylvia and I will surely attend. No matter what the venue or the menu, I'm certain it will be a nice affair."

Young Blaine looked relieved. "Thank you, Sal, I appreciate it, but now can we all just enjoy some checkers before the summer break?"

"Okay, okay," said Delmer, but he said it with a smile. "I suppose we've teased you enough for one day--- but then, tomorrow's another day!"

Everyone laughed, but then turned their attention to Sal, who was laying out the following checker problem on a couple of the boards sitting on the table of the big booth the boys were occupying.

Now, the tradition was that if the boys couldn't solve Sal's problem they'd buy treats for Sal and his wife Sylvia, but if they did solve it, Sal would buy for the boys. And the treats were something special, baked on premises by Deana Nagel, the proprietess of the Beacon and a star baker.

Deana was also great at marketing, and when she saw Sal setting up the checker boards, she called out from behind her counter, "Sorry boys, I don't have wedding cake today, but I do have freshly baked cherry bars!"

There were nods and smiles from the boys, but they were already starting to discuss Sal's selected problem.

"45 minutes," Sal said, "that should be time enough."

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As always you'll have to supply your own treats and coffee, but there's no limit on how long you take to solve the position above. See how you do and then click on Read More to see the solution.

Solution

It only took about 30 minutes, and the honors fell to Young Blaine himself. "We've got it, Sal, but it's kind of involved" he said, and then demonstrated the following play.

1.

...

22x15*

The only jump that wins.

2.

8-12

3-8

15-11 also wins.

3.

27-31

15-11

Or 23-18.

4.	31x22	23-18*!
5.	22x15	8-4*!
6.	15x8	4x20
7.	19-23	20-24*
8.	23-26	24-19*
9.	26-30	28-24*

As originally published, left here as a White Win. While this may be obvious to the experts, for the rest of us, we'll show one way this might come about. Variations are possible.

10.	30-26	24-20
11.	26-22	19-15

Not 19-23, which allows a draw.

12.	22-25	15-18
13.	25-21	18-14
14.	21-25	13-9
15.	25-30	9-6
16.	30-26	14-18
17.	5-9	6-2
18.	9-13	2-6
19.	26-31	...

Not 13-17 18-22!

19.	...	18-23
20.	13-17	6-9
21.	17-22	9-14
22.	22-25	14-18
23.	25-30	18-22

White Wins.

"Very nice," Sal said, "and very practical. Treats are on me!" At that Deana arrived with a tray of cherry bars and refills on coffee.

It was still a couple of hours until the Cafe's 5 PM closing time, and the boys enjoyed checker talk and skittles games until then. Did they tease Young Blaine any further? Perhaps just a little.

As everyone was getting ready to leave, instead of the usual "see you in September" farewells, it was "see you at the wedding," and that sent everyone on their way in an upbeat mood.

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Today's problem comes from an old checker magazine with no source attributed.