NDDOT - Creative Commons

It was 1955 and a beautiful June day in Minot, North Dakota, and it was the wedding day of Blaine and Moira. The Cornerstone Church was decorated with flowers everywhere, and the church was filled to overflowing as the ceremony began.

Picryl

Occupying seats on the groom's side of the aisle were nearly all the members of the Coffee and Cake Checker Club. Led by Sal Westerman, they had all come up from Bismarck, where the club met during the months of September through May. Blaine at age 28 was the youngest member of the club by far, all of the others being over 50 and some, like Sal, considerably so. Blaine, whom everyone called 'Young Blaine' was a junior engineer at a Bismarck based power company.

Young Blaine

The ceremony went flawlessly and to the cheers of all Young Blaine and Young Moira were duly pronounced man and wife. There was to be a reception at the Big Wolf Country Club and rumor had it that it would be especially elegant.

Ian Poellet - Creative Commons

And indeed it was. There was a large variety of appetizers and canapes; there was champagne and mixed drinks; there were cheeses and cold cuts ... all followed by a steak and lobster dinner.

Before the dancing began, the wedding cake was unveiled ... and to the astonishment of the Bismarck guests, it had a checkerboard pattern! Young Blaine, caught by surprise, was clearly delighted, and Young Moira was delighted that her new husband was delighted.

Then the dancing started up and after the traditional first dances and the dollar dance (pay a dollar to dance a couple of beats with the bride), the newlyweds were sent off in a highly decorated Cadillac, trailing tin cans and streamers. The party went on, of course.

Mieguy - Creative Commons

When it was getting near the end of the celebrations, just before midnight, the "boys" of the club were all gathered with their wives at a big round table--- and wouldn't you know it, Sal pulled out a checker problem! He had made a number of copies and distributed them to the club members.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W9,19,21,22,30,32:B2,3,13,14,24,K31

"Something for you boys to amuse yourselves with," he said. "It's late now and we don't have a checkerboard, but take it back home with you and then write me with what you think is the solution some time in the coming week. Even though we don't meet until September, it will give you a little checker fun nonetheless."

The boys, of course, wanted to solve it right away, but by then it was time for the party to end and for everyone to go to their hotels to get some rest before driving back to Bismarck the next day.

Sylvia Westerman

Sal's wife, Sylvia, smiled at him and said, "Even at a wedding, you find a way to enjoy checkers." She patted his arm affectionately. Sal didn't reply. For some reason he was thinking of their own wedding, all those years ago, and how lucky he was to have Sylvia. He silently wished the same for Young Blaine and Young Moira.

Unless we miss our guess, you're not at a wedding reception at the moment (although that's certainly not impossible), and you're likely to have time to solve today's problem. We can't promise you a piece of wedding cake but we can promise to show you the solution if you click on Read More.

Solution

Over the next week or so, Sal received postcards from Dan, Wayne, and Delmer, and a phone call from Louie the Flash. All of them had solved the problem and went on to say they looked forward to resuming the club meetings in September.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W9,19,21,22,30,32:B2,3,13,14,24,K31

9-5* 3-7 5-1 7-10 1-5 2-7 32-27*---A 24-28 5-9! 31x15 9x2 White Wins.

A---5-9 14-17 21x14 10x26 30x23 31-27 23-18 27-23 Black Wins.

This very nice problem is credited to W. R. Fraser.