No, we don't mean that kind of "medium" and we don't expect you to divine the solution to today's checker problem; rather, we consider it "medium" in difficulty. It's a nice setting sent to us by Toronto's intrepid checkerists, Lloyd and Josh Gordon.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:W32,30,22,K19:B27,23,21,3.

The stars tell us you'll be able to solve this one, as long as you keep your thinking channels open. It won't take a seance, though, to check your solution; all you need do is wave your mouse on Read More to see how it's done.

Solution

27-31 19x26 3-8---A 32-28 8-12 28-24 31-27 24-19---B 27-23 19-15 23-18 Drawn.

A---3-7 also leads to a draw: 3-7 32-28 7-11 28-24 31-27 24-20 27-31 26-23 31-26 Drawn. This is the "pocket" formation that we presented in an earlier column, as it might arise in actual over the board competition.

B---24-20 27-31 26-23 31-26 Drawn, again in the "pocket" formation.