It's Thanksgiving time in the United States, and as we remark on each such occasion, this has got to be our favorite holiday, combining as it does food, family, and an air of happy contentment.

During this season, we also like to hearken back to the first days of our Checker Maven columns, which featured an excellent "coffee and cake" problem. Such a problem, you might recall, is one that is so good you'd be willing to bet your checker friends a serving of coffee and cake that they can't win it.

This year's "coffee and cake" problem is a fine one indeed. As we see below, White is up a man but is going to have to work for the win.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W31,30,16,15,10,5:BK24,22,6,2,1.

Can you find your way to the table, so to speak, where coffee and cake await? Or will you be treating your friends instead? Give it a gander, and here's our Thanksgiving treat to you: if you can solve it, and if some day we should meet in person, coffee and cake are on us. When you're ready, click on Read More to check your answer.

In our elementary calculus classes, we all learned the right-hand rule, as demonstrated in the photo above, for finding a vector cross product. It's just a bit of simple mental gymnastics. (And, no doubt, we all learned that old, tired joke, "What do you get when you cross an elephant with a grape?")

Checkers, of course, provides its own excellent form of mental gymnastics, and no calculus classes, be they basic or advanced, are required. Today's problem in our continuing Checker School series will give us a good workout with a practical ending. The position is attributed to a Mr. D. Gourlay, and while it may be old, it is far from tired.

D. GOURLAY
WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:WK27,25,21,9:BK30,K15,13.

Black is a man down; obtaining a draw is going to require some real thought. Exercise your mind, find the saving moves, and then exercise your mouse finger by clicking on Read More to see the solution.

We certainly hope the young lady in the photo wasn't hiking alone, as she's just taken a pretty little slip and might need a bit of help. And indeed, we're going to hear about another kind of slip in today's column--- a slip-shot, that useful and often winning checker maneuver wherein our man "slips" behind an enemy man while our opponent is distracted by a compulsory jump elsewhere on the board. Our example comes from Willie Ryan's Tricks Traps & Shots of the Checkerboard and Willie will explain it himself.

"Throughout my book, I have tried to emphasize the importance of stroke strategy in overpowering losing moves. Here is a well-known Edinburgh development in which the losing move at A (15-19) can be beaten only by driving black into a well-concealed slip-shot finale.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W18,20,21,22,23,26,31,32:B7,5,9,10,11,15,16,19.

A---Standard play to here. The text move loses; the only way white can beat it is by forcing black into the stroke that follows. The correct move at A is: 9-13*; then 27-23, 5-9, 20-16, 12-19, 23-7, 2-11, 26-23, 13-17, 22-13, 15-22, 32-28, 9-14, 28-24, 14-17*, 23-18, 17-21, 24-19, 22-25, 31-27, 25-29, 27-24, 29-25, 24-20, 25-29, 30-26, 29-25, 26-22, 11-15, bringing about a draw. J. W. Jacobson.

B---Nothing better. If play continues with 2-7, 23-16, 12-19, then white will win with 32-28, 9-13 (10-14, 26-23, 19-26, 30-23, 6-10, 31-27, 9-13, 18-9, 5-14, 22-18, 14-17, 23-19, 17-22, 27-24 white wins), 31-27, 5-9 (6-9, 27-23), 27-24, 10-15, 26-23, 19-26, 30-23, 13-17, 22-13, 15-22, 23-19, 7-10, 19-16, 11-15, 24-19, 15-24, 28-19, etc. Wm. F. Ryan."

1---A blunder. We think Willie may have missed this one, as KingsRow now rates the position dead even, and gives 32-28 instead as the move to hold the winning edge---Ed.

2---But this gives the win back; 9-13 would draw---Ed.

3---Loses quickly, whereas 10-14 would have been much better, though still not enough to draw. However the text move leads to a very flashy finish, as you'll see when you work it out---Ed.

Find the winning moves in the diagram above, but don't slip up! Instead, when you've worked out your answer, slip your mouse over to Read More to tumble upon Willie's solution.

Once again, we thought we were fresh out of puns on the word "stroke." But then we found this:

Now, we know about checker strokes, and we know about checker engines (for computers), but we've yet to see a checker stroke engine, much less a 4-stroke engine. So instead we'll just go ahead and present you with one of our top of the month stroke problems, and let you use your own mental engine to come up with the solution.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W9,K11,12,16,17,18,22,27:B1,2,3,10,25,K26,K29.

While not necessarily simple, this one is easier than some of the others seen in our columns. Chug away on all cylinders and when you're ready, click on Read More to open the valves leading to the answer.

Sometimes we feel like we've reached the end of our rope and there is just no hope and nothing can be done any longer. It happens to us all at times, and then we need to draw on whatever internal and external resources we have at hand, and try to pull ourselves back up.

Consider our heroine above, who wishes things could have begun differently, and presumably led to a different outcome. Surely, she must have been referring to a game of checkers in which she misplayed a difficult 3-move ballot. Well, cheer up, young lady, you can always play another game and improve on your results.

This week's problem selection certainly belongs to the seemingly "hopeless" category. Consider the position below.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Draw

W:W7,12,24,30:B4,5,9,22,K29.

White is down a man and looks to be in rather bad shape. Is it truly hopeless? Should White just throw in the towel and resign?

This problem is an object lesson in the wisdom of the old adage, "Never give up hope." In fact, White can get a draw if he maintains his courage and composure. Can you find the right moves? Hope springs eternal! When you're satisfied with your answer, click on Read More to see the solution.

Wouldn't it be nice if, during one of our games, it was our turn to play and suddenly a sign flashed, "Black to Play and Win"? We'd then know to look extra hard for that winning move, and we'd have a good chance of actually finding it.

But real life is not so user-friendly. There are no flashing signs telling us what to do next. If there's a win on the board, we have to both know it's there and find it. Every position is an "X the Unknown" to be solved on our own.

That's why problems with terms like "White to Play, What Result?" are at once frustrating and practical. Frustrating, in that we'd at least like an idea about what we're supposed to do. But practical, in that they mirror the real world of cross-board play, with an unknown result awaiting us at each and every move.

Today's problem is taken from the real world of master play, from a long-ago cross-board game. Can you discern the result and find the right line of play? We're offering you no further information. Here's the position.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play, What Result?

W:W32,31,25,11,K3:B23,18,13,4,2.

Can you master the unknown, or will you be X-ed out? When you've worked your way through, though, it's no unknown that clicking on Read More will show you the solution.

How fast do the leaves fall in the Fall? It seems like the season is all too brief. There is a short period of spectacular color and then, suddenly, it's over, and in much of North America we're left with nothing but a big raking and cleanup task.

For our October speed problem, we've chosen to mimic the season by presenting a problem which goes by pretty quickly. One minute the clock starts, and then, seemingly in seconds (actually it is in seconds), time is up.

Of course this means that the problem is in the easy category (and we've seen problems like this before), so we'll expect you to solve it in 15 seconds. When you're ready, let your mouse fall on the link below.

October Speed Problem (easy; 15 seconds)

To drop down to the solution, simply flutter over to Read More.

Don't tell anyone, but The Checker Maven has a secret hideaway.

Unfortunately, it isn't a bungalow tucked away on a remote tropical island, much as we might wish; but for a checker fan, it might be something even better: we have a hidden stash of checker problems.

No, we're definitely not telling. But in our weekly columns, little by little we'll share some (maybe even all) of the contents of our secret checker problem hideaway with you. Today, we'll start with a deceptive little situation of the "what result?" variety. Take a look at the diagram below.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play, What Result?

B:W32,31,20,K3:B17,12,7,5.

We can't offer a week's vacation in Paradise as a prize for solving this one; we can only promise you self-satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment. Tease out the secret and then click on Read More, which will reveal the solution's hideaway.

The runners above are taking part in an event called the Saguaro Race, held on Labor Day weekend in Arizona. There's a choice between a more serious eight-mile event, or a two-mile "fun" event. Given the heat of the Arizona desert, and our less than stellar endurance, we know which one we would opt for--- but to each his own, and we're certain that a good time will be had by all.

As our own celebration of Labor Day, the holiday set aside for recognizing the ordinary worker who makes America great, we offer our own race, and we promise that it's much less taxing than the Saguaro event. It's a race against the Javascript clock to solve a checker problem before time runs out. The problem will tax your brain, but not all that much, so we'll give you 30 seconds to figure it out. (The Saguaro participants, no matter which event they choose, can't possibly finish that fast!)

Click on the link below to display the problem, then come back and click on Read More to see the solution.

September Speed Problem (moderately easy, 30 seconds)

On the opposite end of the "larger than life" spectrum is the "smaller than life" world of miniatures. We're fascinated by the tiny books shown in the photo above, although we do know that unfortunately they aren't checker books. However, checkers has its own world of miniatures, and today we're pleased to bring you another miniature problem. We like to publish these from time to time; while they are not everyone's cup of tea, they are elegant, entertaining, and nearly always applicable to practical play. Shown below is one that we think merits all of the previous adjectives.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Win

B:W29,K5:BK21,1.

Give the problem a "good little try" and then click on Read More to see the "little old solution."