You're an adventurer about to enter strange and reputedly dangerous territory. Look ahead ... is it a trap? Is it safe to proceed?

Our game of checkers is no stranger to devious traps and the need for caution. Let's explore this a bit.

In our ongoing Checker School series, we've been (more or less) following along in the fascinating and eclectic book Checker Board Strategy by Andrew J. Banks, published back in the mid 1940s. One chapter in Mr. Banks' book is entitled "Denvir Strokes" featuring situations taken from the work of the controversal old-time player and writer John T. Denvir (no, it's not the more modern folk-singer who went by the pseudonym John Denver). Mr. Banks presents most of Denvir's problems as "traps" given the title of Denvir's 1894 book, Denvir's Traps and Shots.

Now, given Mr. Denvir's mixed reputation, we're not totally sure if the following is an original of his, but he does claim it was from one of his over the board games.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W14,17,18,19,20,27,30,31,32:B2,4,5,7,8,10,11,12,21

It's actually quite a good problem, although perhaps not for the reasons you think. Why is this called a "trap"? You'll see when you solve it or click on Read More to see the solution.

Solution

The solution begins with play similar to a composed stroke problem (and we're not convinced that this isn't one of those).

18-15 could be played first; the move order doesn't matter.

18x27 results in similar play.

Mr. Denvir leaves it here as a White win. Certainly White ought to win but the winning continuation might be the real point here, although Mr. Denvir (and Mr. Banks) neglect this. Of course, there are various winning paths, but we show one that is most interesting and thematic and perhaps most likely.

With 1 holds 3 it's now an easy White win. Perhaps Black is in the "trap" alluded to by Mr. Banks or Mr. Denvir?

White Wins.

If you took this one through to the finish, you are a skilled player indeed!