Sarah Lou CC BY 2.0

Our monthly Checker School column continues today with its series of famous shots in the game of checkers. These are situations that all experts should know and all students should learn, as they do come up over the board, more often than you might think.

Let's look at this month's entry.

11-15 23-19 8-11 22-17 9-13 17-14 10x17 21x14 15-18 19-15 4-8 24-19 13-17----A 28-24 11-16---B 26-23 16-20 31-26---C

A---6-10 is much better here.

B---Turns a relatively small disadvantage into a probable loss. 6-9 would have minimized the damage.

C---A real lesson in the need to keep your head while you're ahead. Instead of playing 15-10 to go on to a probable win, White will now lose!

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:W32,30,29,27,26,25,24,23,19,15,14:B20,18,17,12,8,7,6,5,3,2,1.

Can you solve it? Can you put a name to the shot? For extra credit, can you name the "shot" shown in the picture at the top?

Try to answer all the questions, and then click on Read More to get all the answers.

Solution

It's the famed Steel Shot.

18-22 25x18 12-16 19x12 7-10 14x7 3x28 12x3 2-7 3x10 6x31 Black Wins.

The other shot? It's the well-known Mai Tai, often associated with Hawai`i in popular culture.