It's been a long journey but we've reached the end of the road, as we announce #77 in Bill Salot's wonderful series of checker problem composing contests; #77 will indeed be the last. The Checker Maven has been privileged to have published 22 of them and to have archived the rest for continued enjoyment into the future.

But all is not lost; Mr. Salot says he will provide us with problems on a continuing basis for us to publish from time to time in our regular weekly columns.

For now, however, let's focus on Contest 77, which Mr. Salot calls Entertainers. You can read more about it and try four creative and indeed entertaining problems on the contest page.

First, though, we'll let you try a "teaser" problem called Surprise, Surprise, composed by Roy Little and originally published in February 2021. You'll see where the title comes from when you solve the problem.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:W14,17,22,24,28:B1,5,K8,13

Surprise yourself by solving this one, and then spring a surprise by clicking on Read More to see the solution. And then, be sure to visit the contest page and vote for your favorite!

Solution

*24 19---A, 1-6---B,*19 15, 6-9, *14 10, 9-14, *15 11!, White Wins---C.

A---Not 14 10, *8-11, 24 19, *5-9, 28 24, *9-14, 10 7, *14-21, Drawn.

B---8-11, *28 24, 11-7, *19 15, 1-6, *22 18, 13-22, *15 10, White Wins.

C---If 8-6 then 17-1 White Wins. If 14-21 then 11-4 White Wins.

Did you get this one? Did you like it? There are four more on the contest page!