The Detroit Doublejumpers of the National Checker League were on summer break, and training camp didn't start for another month. Typically during the summer, their superstar captain, Marvin J. Mavin, did some outreach work in June and then took a vacation with his wife Priscilla in July.

Now, Priscilla Snelson (she had retained the Snelson name when she and Marvin married) was the CEO of the huge international conglomerate Rust Belt Holdings, and she was going to London for a day or two of business meetings. Her plan was to extend the trip to a length of two weeks, as she wanted to visit a small town in Wales for, as she put it, "a different sort of experience."

Marvin readily agreed. England, after all, was noted for its high caliber checker players (or perhaps we should say draughts players), not to mention strong teams and clubs, which were organized into a complex hierarchy of leagues and divisions at both the amateur and professional level.

Priscilla decided not to take the private jet due to the length of her stay, but she did book tickets for herself and Marvin in First Class on British Airways. They would fly to Heathrow Airport and stay in the five star London hotel hosting Priscilla's meeting. From there they would travel by train (also First Class, naturally) to Knighton, a market town on the border of Wales and England.

Priscilla booked the best suite in Knighton at the Hotel Wales. She was disappointed that the most expensive room was only $470 per night, but she figured she would be able to make do for a short while. She chose Knighton with the idea of taking nature walks in the Welsh countryside, enjoying quaint shops and local cafes, and staying away from the telephone and internet to the extent possible.

Marvin pointed out, after checking on a few things on the internet, that Knighton was a smallish town and there wouldn't be a lot to do. But when Priscilla started enumerating possible nature hikes, Marvin said, "You know, it's kinda cloudy and cool in Knighton."

"I checked the weather too, Marvin," Priscilla said, "and it's sunny about half the time in July. Just think, we can do two nature hikes a day!"

Marvin, who was never particularly thrilled about outdoor activity that involved a lot of physical effort, didn't reply. He would just have to grin and bear it.

The day of departure came and the couple flew to London, where they dined at a renowned celebrity chef restaurant. Then while Priscilla was at her meetings, Marvin spent most of the day at one of London's better draughts clubs. He received a warm reception and had a number of interesting games with some of the top London area players.

The next afternoon the couple traveled to Knighton. There were no direct trains but Priscilla had booked the fastest routing and they arrived in just about four hours, in time to check in at their hotel and have dinner in a local restaurant. Priscilla allowed how it wasn't as good as the London restaurant of the previous evening, but "it would do." Marvin, who had been enjoying some fine local ale, again kept his own counsel.

"You know," he said as they were finishing their dessert, "about how I looked stuff up on the internet?"

Priscilla was suddenly wary. "Yes?" she said, a note of caution in her voice. "I suppose you've found another checker tournament like you did on our honeymoon trip?" (As recounted in an earlier Checker Maven story---Ed.)

"Well, like, uh, yeah! How did you guess? In a couple of days there's like, uh, you know, this checker tournament and stuff ... "

"Here in Knighton?"

"Yeah, and it's open to everybody and there's like different divisions and stuff and ... "

"Marvin. What about our nature hikes? I have ten of them planned and you wouldn't want to miss any of them now, would you?"

"Yeah but there's like a ladies division and ... "

"In the checker tournament? I thought in this day and age ... "

"I know," Marvin broke in, "but it's like this. There's the Masters Division and Experts and stuff and all the way to Novice ... and ladies can play anywhere they want but there's a special division if ladies just wanna play ladies ... and stuff."

Priscilla pondered a moment. "Marvin, dear, are you suggesting I play in the ladies division myself?"

"Uh ... well ... sure ... you might like it ... "

"And stuff? Oh Marvin, how long is this tournament?"

"Just a day ... "

"I would miss two nature hikes and so would you."

"Aw c'mon Prissy, we'll both need a break after a coupla days of that hiking business!"

Priscilla glared. "Don't call me Prissy, especially when you want something from me! But I'll think about it ... maybe."

Marvin knew better than to push the issue at the moment. The tournament was on the upcoming weekend and there was still time. So he endured three days of hiking, both morning and afternoon, before bringing it up again.

To his surprise, Priscilla said, "Yes Marvin, I'll play in the ladies' division of the tournament and you can play in the Masters, as long as they allow professional players."

"They do; anybody can play. But gee Priss ... I mean honey, that's great that you're going to play! I ain't never seen you play but I betcha you ain't bad at all."

"As you know, I played through high school years but then became very busy with my studies at Harvard and later on the Sloane School. And then there was my career ... just no time."

Marvin quickly registered them both for the tournament, and then endured two more days of twice daily nature hikes. He was wondering if Priscilla would ever run out of places to hike but it didn't seem like it.

Saturday morning came around. The tournament was to be held at the City Centre on West Street. Marvin and Priscilla arrived promptly to sign in at 8 AM. Of course the organizers were thrilled to have a player of Marvin's stature in their tournament, and equally thrilled that his wife would participate too. The tournament head, a Mr. Linden Edmonds, asked for numerous publicity photos.

But then it was time for the tournament to start. The tournament was a six round Swiss system, two games per round, with a fast time limit of 15 minutes plus a 3 second increment per game.

There was a one hour lunch break after the third round. Marvin had won all of his games to have a score of 6 wins. When he met up with Prisilla, he was surprised and pleased to hear that she was tied for the lead at 5 wins and 1 draw.

"Surprised?" Priscilla said. "Why are you surprised, Marvin?"

Marvin could sense potential trouble. "Uh, well, like, that's, you know, really good ..."

"... and stuff? Don't you have confidence in my abilities?"

"Yeah, sure, uh hey let's grab some lunch, I hear they got good fries and stuff at this pub across the street ... I mean like there's a lot on the menu ... "

Priscilla gave Marvin a sharp look but agreed. "Very well," she said in a voice that was neither cold nor warm.

Lunch did fortunately turn out to be relatively pleasant and Marvin listened without interruption as Priscilla talked of her morning's games. He wisely didn't suggest alternatives to some of the play she described.

The afternoon's games began. Marvin had a perfect record again, right through to the last round, when he gave up a draw to a highly skilled local player. But he easily took first place in the tournament.

But there was one more surprise to be had. All of the divisions had finished except for the ladies' division. And who was playing on first board, with a chance at first place but ... Priscilla! She was in the second game of her match with a very young and highly talented Irish player who went by the moniker Little Patty Potatoes (her real name was Elsabeth Dooner). Going into the last match, Priscilla had eight wins and two draws, and Little Patty had nine wins and one loss, so the pair was even in the standings. The first game between them was a draw. In the second game, Priscilla needed a win. A draw wouldn't do as then Little Patty would win on tie-break points.

There was great interest in this final game. The Tournament Director wisely kept everyone away from the players, who had to watch at a distance on a demonstration board.

The game came down to this position, with Priscilla to play.

Marvin knew that Priscilla could win it if she would just make the right choice. There was a tense wait and then ...

Priscilla made her move.

---

If you were Priscilla, in contention for first place, could you have found the win here? Experts will have no trouble solving it quickly, but after all Priscilla hasn't played competively for some years. See what you make of things and then see if you can turn Patty Potatoes into Mashed Potatoes. Click on Read more to see the solution and the conclusion of our story.

Solution and Conclusion

Priscilla played 14-17 and Marvin groaned out loud. Play continued as follows.

14-17 7-11 17x26 11x18 27-32 30x23 32-27 10-7 31-26 23-19 26-23 18-15 23x16

and after a few more moves a draw was agreed. Little Patty Potatoes had won first place and Priscilla had to be satisfied with second.

After the awards ceremony, at which Marvin generously donated all of his prize money to a local charity, and another round of publicity photos, Marvin and Priscilla left the venue and started back to their hotel.

Once outside, Priscilla, bubbly and happy, said, "Didn't I do great, dear? I won second place and I only missed first place on tiebreaks!"

"Uh, yeah, honey, that was, like, you know, real good. But if you'da played 15-18 or 13-17 you coulda won. It woulda gone like this ... "

Marvin explained the play.

15-18 22x15 31-26 30x23 27x9 Black wins.

"Now ain't that somethin'? What a great win you mighta had!"

Priscilla frowned. "Well, Marvin, maybe so, but I still think I did really well, don't you?"

"Uh ... that 14-18 was kinda like a real bad mistake though ... "

Priscilla halted in her tracks. "A real bad mistake, was it? Well, Mr. Mavin, dear unsupportive husband of mine, I'll tell you about a real bad mistake I made! It was marrying you!"

Priscilla stomped off, leaving Marvin standing red-faced and knowing that tonight he'd be sleeping on the couch in their hotel suite.

---

The "Hotel Wales" and all characters in the story are fictitious. Knighton is, however, the annual venue of a celebrated draughts tournament which attracts top U.K. and other players, although we are not aware of a separate women's division.

Today's position was sent along by regular Toronto-based contributors Lloyd and "Gosh Josh" Gordon and arose in one of their nightly over-the-board sessions.