It was the month of June, and the National Checker League had begun its summer break before training camp began in early August. During June it was customary for NCL players, at all levels, to do outreach work of some kind, whether teaching checkers at an inner city park, setting up friendly tournaments at senior centers, or providing special lessons to school kids of all ages.

Marvin J. Mavin, the superstar captain of the Detroit Doublejumpers, generally enjoyed the outreach work, and was often known to go to other countries where checkers was popular but there wasn't always money for professional coaching. He especially liked working with youngsters who had a dream of themselves one day becoming a superstar.

There was an assignment available in southern Chile, and Marvin put in for it. It would be the depths of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and he didn't think anyone would want that posting. But to his surprise, he was turned down.

In a phone call from his head coach, Mr. Baba Dudut, Marvin heard these words.

"I know you wanted that assignment in Chile but I made sure you didn't get it. You've caused me a lot of trouble, you know." (Editor's note: See previous stories for details.)

"Aw, c'mon coach, you know no one else wants to go to southern Chile in the winter ... "

"I don't care. You're not getting what you want. I have something else in mind for you."

Coach went on to explain that there was to be a two week long executive camp being held in Aspen, Colorado, which would be attended by top executives from around the world.

"The execs won't settle for anything but a superstar player to lead the camp, and like it or not, you're it. It's a chance for you to redeem yourself. These are very important people so go to Aspen a week early and make sure you have your program arranged."

"But Coach ... "

Coach Baba Dudut had already hung up.

Back at home, Marvin told his wife, Priscilla, about the phone call and the assignment. Prscilla was the CEO of the large international conglomerate Rust Belt Holdings, and had her own view of events.

"Marvin, that's wonderful," she said. "You can make some good contacts. In fact there will likely be other CEOs there who I know and with whom I transact. It's a pity I can't go with you. But maybe you can pass along my greetings. Good for business all around."

Marvin wasn't so sure about any of it. A room full of giant egos? Priscilla would take to it but he certainly wouldn't.

Marvin didn't have much choice and on the appointed day he flew into Aspen's airport and took a taxi to the five star St. Regent Resort. The hotel offered the height of luxury and service and was very expensive, as you might expect for a venue where top CEOs were to meet.

Marvin met that evening for dinner with Mr. Sbrinz Etivaz, the Swiss-born director of the hotel.

"Everything is pretty much arranged, Mr. Mavin," he said over an appetizer course of smoked organic celery and roasted Mediterranean peppers. "Accommodations and meals are all planned. You'll find the schedule in your email. These CEOs are of course busy people, so your seminars will run from 9 AM to noon. Afternoons are reserved for the CEOs to tend to their businesses, and they have evenings reserved for networking and leisure. I do hope it's clear that you are to neither take meals with the CEOs, disturb their afternoon schedules, nor participate in evening activities. After all, despite your star status in checkers, the CEOs consider you to be 'hired help' at the servant level. You can eat in the main common dining room. In the afternoons and evenings I suggest you go over your material for the following day so as to ensure the flawless presentation the CEOs have every right to expect."

Marvin looked up from his food. "So, I ain't got no status?"

Mr. Etivaz gave Marvin something of a look. "No, you 'ain't'," he said with disdain, "and from here on out you will deal only with the Assistant Director of Protocol, Ms. Betty Butterfly, who will ensure everything goes smoothly. Please follow her directions to the letter and let her know if there are any difficulties."

"I see," Marvin said. "Well, whatever .. "

"Let me be clear, Mr. Mavin," Mr. Etivaz went on. "I know you have something of a ... reputation. Do not bring dishonor upon this establishment if you know what's good for you."

A waiter arrived with the main course. There was only one plate, which he set in front of Marvin and then went off.

Mr. Etivaz stood. "Enjoy your dinner, Mr. Mavin. I am a busy man and cannot spend any more time with 'hired help'."

Marvin did spend the next several days working diligently on a program. He'd start with the basics such as simple tactics and how to win two kings against one. He'd move on to more advanced tactics and something about midgame landings toward the end of the first week. In the second week he'd get into go as you please openings and finish the camp with a one day "graduation" tournament. He did wonder why top CEOs would spend two weeks away from the office to go to a checker camp. Maybe he'd find out when the execs arrived.

They started coming in on Sunday, a couple at a time. The camp was limited to 20 participants. There was an evening reception for the CEOs that night, hosted by Mr. Etivaz, but it was very clear that Marvin was not invited.

Marvin did meet the CEOs at the first session on Monday morning. There were participants from across the US and Canada, as well as Mexico, France, England, and several other countries; there was even a participant from the Marshall Islands.

After introductions, Marvin set to work. He was a little dismayed about most of the participants spending significant time texting and reading email on their phones. A number of them stepped out from time to time to make or take phone calls.

At the end of the session, just before noon, Marvin told them that their homework assignment could be found in their notebooks.

The next morning, Marvin asked for volunteers to demonstrate solutions to the homework problems. No one stepped up.

"Okay, then, how about you," Marvin said, pointing to the CEO of a major New York City construction company.

"Don't you go pointing your finger at me, boy," the man said. 'For your information we're busy people and we don't have time for childish things like homework."

"All right," Marvin replied, "then I'll just show you."

Marvin played out the solutions and then continued on with the lessons. But the same pattern played itself out all week and into the next week. It was obvious that the CEOs weren't learning very much, if anything, and they became less and less attentive each day. Some of them stopped showing up. On Wednesday of the second week, in the early afternoon Ms. Butterfly asked to see Marvin. They met in Ms. Butterfly's office.

"Mr. Mavin, some of the CEOs at your 'camp' have checked out early, saying they just didn't have time for 'this sort of thing.' Frankly, we're very disappointed."

"Me too," Marvin said. "They don't pay attention and even don't show up sometimes. They ain't never done no homework neither and I think they ain't learned nothing."

Ms. Butterfly leaned forward. "Well, that's on you, isn't it, Mr. Mavin. These are important people. It's up to you to hold their attention and keep them engaged. If you haven't done that--- and obviously you haven't--- then you've failed."

"Whaddya mean? They don't listen. They don't do no work. They don't ... "

"I don't care about your excuses. Save your breath. Now, there are two days left and still about a dozen CEOs remain. You had better make it good if you don't want a very poor evaluation sent back to your League executives. Thank you for stopping in, but I'm rather busy and need to get back to work." Ms. Butterfly picked up some papers from her desk and started looking at them. It was obvious to Marvin that he had been dismissed.

Marvin thought about things for several hours and on into the evening, after his solitary dinner at the main dining room. Finally, he came up with a plan.

The next morning the attendance was down to about 10.

Marvin stood at the front of the room and bellowed, "Listen up, people."

Heads raised from cell phones to stare in surprise.

"Now, you all think you're some kinda big shots, and that's great and stuff, but I came here to teach you checkers and none of you ain't learned nothing as far as I can see. So here's how it's going to be for the last two days. Put all of them cell phones away and leave 'em away. Pay attention and answer when I call on you. Do your homework tonight cause like it or not there's a little tournament tomorrow and you're all playing and I don't want no complaining. If you can't do things my way, you can leave now."

One CEO did get up and, with much harrumphing, actually left.

Another spoke up. "You don't get it, do you son. We're busy people, and we're playing chess, not checkers, in our business lives."

Now Marvin, like any red blooded checker player, didn't care for the chess vs. checkers analogy. "First of all, mister, I ain't your son. And second, if you're playing chess why are you at a checkers camp?"

"To network, what else," the CEO replied. "You think any of us really care about checkers? Like I said, we're playing chess while ... "

"Stuff it!" Marvin said. "If you think you're playing chess in your business, fine. But maybe you should be playing checkers. It's a game of finesse. But I guess you ain't got none of that."

There were howls of laughter from the rest of the CEOS while the man who had spoken turned red in the face. But before he could speak again, Marvin said, "Let me show you something."

There was a laptop connected to a projector, and the CheckerBoard program was running on it. Marvin put it in setup mode and had it display the following position.

"Now," he said, "suppose this is a business situation. Your company is White and your rival is Black. As you can see your markets, represented by the number of pieces, are equal. But your competitor has just made a little error and now you want to get a winning advantage. How do you do it?"

The CEOs actually now showed a little interest. One of them spoke up. "When I'm head to head with a competitor," she said, "and the markets are even, I find a weak spot and go after it and crush them."

"I don't know," another CEO said, "a direct attack could be risky. What if it backfires? Won't you be the one to lose then? Or what if they try to do the same thing to you?"

The discussion went back and forth. Marvin began to smile for the first time since he arrived in Aspen.

Finally he said, "This was a good discussion and it's very relevant to checkers. Let me show you a couple of things."

Marvin, finally had everyone's rapt attention, and there was not a cell phone in sight.

---

Most of our readers are likely not "top CEOs"; after all, checkers is a game for everyone. But you don't have to be a CEO to enjoy today's problem position. After you've given it some thought and effort, click on Read More to see the solution and the rest of the story. And--- our apologies to those of you who are top CEOS.

Solution and Conclusion

"So look," he said, "this one requires finesse. Watch closely."

"Now, if White goes for the big attack, look what happens."

1.	...	26-23
2.	8-11	23x14
3.	10x17	21x14
4.	9x18	30-26
5.	11-15	19x10
6.	7x14	20-16
7.	12x19	27-23
8.	18x27	32x16
9.	6-10	...

"The attack fizzles and the game is a draw. Your competition was able to ward you off. But suppose White takes the patient approach?"

1.	...	32-28
2.	7-11	26-23

"See? White had to wait to play this move!"

3.	3-7	23x14
4.	10x17	21x14
5.	9x18	31-26

"More patience."

6.	6-10	28-24
7.	10-14	26-23

"Little by little."

8.	5-9	13x6
9.	1x10	30-26
10.	11-15	25-21

"The competition is getting blocked."

11.

8-11

...

"7-11 21-17 14-21 23-7 White Wins."

11.	...	21-17
12.	14x21	23x14
13.	10x17	19x3

"White Wins. You've you've defeated your competition!"

Marvin explained further, "See? It's like you found a small advantage over the competition, one that would take some time to develop. Slowly but surely you increased your advantage until you finally came out on top."

One CEO spoke up. "Yes! That's like the time when I ... "

Everyone was now speaking, giving examples of how they had done something similar.

"You still want to play chess?" Marvin asked a little later on. "Or do you want to go ahead with the tournament tomorrow?"

There was enthusiastic assent. A couple of CEOs said they were going to call the CEOs who had left and tell them they ought to come back. "They need to play checkers, not chess," one of them was heard to say.

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Today's problem is based on a very old game between Hay and Drummond.