It was the next to last Saturday in May, and with Memorial Day weekend coming up the following week, this was the last meeting of the season for the Coffee and Cake Checker Club, led by Sal Westerman. The Club met Saturdays at the Beacon Cafe in Bismarck, North Dakota, from just after Labor Day until just before Memorial Day, with breaks only for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Summers in North Dakota were very brief and the focus was almost exclusively on outdoor activities.

As usual for a season closeout, turnout was good. In addition to Sal there were Louie the Flash, Larry (also known as Sam), Delmer, Mike, Wayne, Dan, Young Blaine (the only member under 50 years of age), as well as Ron and Old Frank. The group overflowed into a second large booth at the back of the Cafe.

Louie the Flash

Also as usual for a season closeout, initial discussion focused on summer plans. Louie the Flash said he was taking a trip to the Pacific Northwest with his girlfriend Hortense. He said he and Hortense had been together for a little over two months now, which as Larry observed, was something of a record for Louie.

Larry

Larry in turn was going to Florida to visit family. Wayne would spend some time on the family farm up in Wilton, helping his kids with farm work. Delmer, Dan, and Mike didn't have particular plans beyond weekends camping at a lake spot. Young Blaine was going backpacking in Colorado with his wife, Moira, to celebrate their first anniversary.

Ron was going to visit relatives in South Dakota, while Old Frank spent every summer working intensely on his dollhouse business, as demand during the holiday season was increasing year by year.

Sal

But when it came Sal's turn, he was uncharacteristically quiet. "I've got something I'd like to work on," was all he said, and no amount of prodding, teasing, or pleading could get him to say anything more than that. (Regular Checker Maven readers will learn more about this next month.)

Sal finally said, "Enough summer talk; let's get down to checkers and make the most of our time. I've got a nice little problem for you to work on."

Deana Nagel

Deana Nagel, the proprietess of the Beacon Cafe and a blue ribbon baker, was of course listening to every word, and with perfect timing called out from behind her counter, "Fresh strawberry rhubarb pie today!"

Veganbaking.net from USA CC BY-SA 2.0

The idea was that the "boys" as Sal called them, would try to solve his weekly problem. If they could win it, Sal bought the treats for all. If they couldn't, the boys would buy for Sal as well as an extra serving for Sal to take home to his wife, Sylvia.

Sal laid out the following position on one board at each table, and announced that solving time would be limited to 45 minutes. But the boys, already deeply engrossed, barely heard him.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W12,15,18,21,23,25,26,27,28,30,31:B3,4,5,6,8,9,10,13,14,20

The Checker Maven doesn't pause for summer or holidays, and our columns will continue as always. But can you meet Sal's challenge, and earn yourself some strawberry rhubarb pie (which, alas, you will have to supply for yourself)? See how you do and then click on Read More to see the solution and the brief conclusion of our story.

Solution

Sal stretched the time out to an hour but at the end of that time the boys admitted they hadn't found the solution. Sal then demonstrated the following play, saying, "The run-up to the position is worth noting."

10-14 24-19; 7-10 28-24; 9-13 22-18; 5-9? (3-7 draws) 25-22; 11-16 18-15; 16-20 32-28; 2-7 29-25; 1-5 22-18; 12-16 19-12; 10-19 24-15; 7-10.

"This is now the problem position with White to play and win. Some of the play could have been slightly better but 5-9 was clearly the losing move."

25-22! (27-24 also wins, but this is decisive); 10-19 23-16; 14-32 16-11; 8-15 31-27; 32-23 26-1 to a White Win.

"Wow," said Ron, "That was really something. I'll be happy to buy the treats." Ron, who although not a regular attendee, was always generous.

The boys enjoyed their treats along with more coffee, conversation, and skittles games, staying right up until Deana's 5 PM closing time. Then, with everyone in a good mood, they wished each other and Deana a good summer and went off into the brisk early evening air. And while it was a little ways off, there would be more checker fun come next fall.

Joe Wolf CC BY-ND 2.0

Today's position was supplied to us by none other than Grandmaster Richard Pask, who points to a similarity to Game 1219 in Champion Alex Moiseyev's latest book, All My Games.