Unofficial World Championship Checker Problem Composing Contest #43
2019-01-19 through 2019-02-28
So far 363 visitors have viewed this contest 841 times.

We have a tie!

The ACF Website would like to congratulate
Ed Atkinson, PA, & Bill Salot, VA, the composer of Fooled Me Good and
Ed Atkinson, PA, & Bill Salot, VA, the composer of Teamwork
who have tied with 6 votes.
There were 363 visitors to this contest, and the 23 who voted were the most since Contest 4 in May 2012.

In this"Open Contest" (composers' choice of problems), the old adage, "Two heads are better than one", was confirmed. The two top vote-getters were Teamwork and Fooled Me Good, tied with 6 votes each. Both were co-authored by Ed Atkinson and Bill Salot, who each contributed a piece of the solution, but didn't feel comfortable taking full credit. Leo Springer (Netherlands) plus Gary and Gene Ellison voted for Teamwork. Slava Gorin (Russia), Kathy Wirthwein and Wilma Wolverton voted for Fooled Me Good.

In third place with 4 votes was Premature Burial, a Jim Loy correction of Derek Oldbury,

Fourth with 3 votes was Deflated, a deferred stroke by Roy Little. Liam Stephens (Ireland) voted for it.

Tied for last, but each with 2 votes for first, were Scrambled Eggs, another Roy Little deferred stroke and Magic, a correction of Peter Thirkell (1909), by Jim Loy. Voting for Magic was Lloyd Gordon (Canada), who remains at the top of the voters' ladder with 5 winners picked in 6 tries (83%).

Leo Springer (Netherlands) "sprang" to 2nd place on the ladder with 2 winners in 3 tries (67%). 3rd is Liam Stephens (Ireland) with 7 winners in 11 tries (64%). Tied for 4th and 5th are Slava Goren (Russia), and Kathy Wirthwein with 5 winners in 8 tries (62.5%). 6th is Gene Ellison with 6 winners in 10 tries (60%). 7th is Wilma Wolverton with 4 winners in 7 tries (57%).
___________________________________________________________
Here is how this contest was introduced:

Usually the problems in these contests are selected from a pool of original, unpublished entries, with the object of making them similar and competitive. In contrast, this is an "open contest", as requested by composers who want to select and showcase their favorite unpublished problems without regard to appearance, size, length, type, style, theme or difficulty of competition.

The composers believe their choice of entries are best and will prevail over all the others. If they are right, this could be the best set yet of new checker problems. We'll see.

Such varied settings, like apples and oranges, will be difficult to judge. The voting results may be more a measure of preferred problem attributes than of the problems themselves. The winner may be the problem that emphasizes the most popular attributes. We'll see.

The entries are presented in order of decreasing size. There are no pure strokes, but plenty of forcing and waiting moves. Please help us learn from this experiment by examining the outstanding animated solutions and then voting for the one that impresses you most.

If you promptly report your vote to Bill Salot at the address below the diagrams, your name will appear on the problem evaluation ladder, currently headed by Lloyd Gordon, Canada.
Scrambled Eggs
Composed By: Roy Little, Oklahoma
Current Votes:
White to move. White Wins
View Animation
Trunk*20 16, 19-23A, *14 9, 5-14, *16 11, 8-6, *2 27, 28-32B, *27 31, 13-17, *30 25White Wins
A19-24, *16-19, 24-27, 19 23 or 19 15White Wins
B13-17, 27 31 or 27 32White Wins
Deflated
Composed By: Roy Little, Oklahoma
Current Votes:
White to move. White Wins
View Animation
Trunk*21-25A, 32-27B, *24 19C, 15-24, *3 7D, 2-11, *25 30, 27-18, 30 16White Wins
ANot 24 20, *10-14Draw
B26-31, *25 22White Wins
CNot 3 7, *27-20Draw
DNot 25 30, 27-18, 30 7, 2-11, 5 1, *24-19, 1 6, *19-15Draw
Magic
Composed By: Jim Loy, Montana
Current Votes:
White to move. White Wins
View Animation
Trunk*18 22, 25-30, *22 18A, 30-25B, *20 16, 11-20, *28 24, 20-27, *18 22, 25-18, 23 7White Wins
ACorrects 23 18, *30-26, 18 14, *10-17, 22 13, *26-23, 28 24, 23-16, 13 17, *31-26, 32 27, *26-31, 17 22, *11-15, 20 11,*12-16, 27 23, *31 27, P. Thirkell, #833, Horsfall's Problem Book, 1909. Draw
Premature Burial
Composed By: Jim Loy, Montana
Current Votes:
White to move. Draw
View Animation
Trunk*28 24, 12-16, *14 10A, 5-14, *24 19, 16-20, *10 7, 23-16, *7 3, 16-7, 3 26Draw
ACorrects D. Oldbury's 24 19, ID&C (1959), No. 15, colors reversed, continue *16-20, 19 15, *20-24, 15 10, *24-27, 10 6, *27-31, 6 1, *31-26, 1 6, *26-30, 6 10,*30-25 (not Oldbury's 23-18, *8 12, Draw), 8 12, 25-21, 11 8, 21-17Red Wins
ACorrects D. Oldbury's 24 19, ID&C (1959), No. 15, colors reversed, continue *16-20, 19 15, *20-24, 15 10, *24-27, 10 6, *27-31, 6 1, *31-26, 1 6, *26-30, 6 10,*30-25 (not Oldbury's 23-18, *8 12, Draw), 8 12, 25-21, 11 8, 21-17Red Wins
Fooled Me Good
Composed By: Ed Atkinson, PA, & Bill Salot, VA
Current Votes:
White to move. White Wins
View Animation
Trunk*8 4A, 18-11, *17 13, 9-14, *13 17B, 14-18, *17 14, 18-22, *14 10, 21-25, *31 27, 25-30, *27 24, 30-26, *24 20, 26-23, *12 16CWhite Wins
ANot 8 11 or 15 10 or 15 11, *9-13Draw
BNot 13 9, *14-17Draw
CNot 12 8, *23-18Red Wins
Teamwork
Composed By: Ed Atkinson, PA, & Bill Salot, VA
Current Votes:
White to move. White Wins
View Animation
Trunk*23 19A, 30-26B, *19 15, 26-17, 15 8, 17-22, *29 25, 22-29, *8 4, 29-25, *4 8, 25-22, *10 7, 2-11, 8 15White Wins
ANot 23 18, *11-16Draw
B30-25, *22 17, 25-22, *10 7, WW; or 11-15, *19 16, 30-26, *22 17, 26-22, *17 13White Wins
Please enter your original, unpublished, dual-free problems in future contests by sending them at anytime to:
Bill Salot
1006 Elmwood Drive
Colonial Heights, VA 23834-2905

or at wjsalot@comcast.net.