Happy New Year to everyone! 2010 is history and 2011 has arrived. The Checker Maven hopes this year will be everything that you might wish it to be; and to start our year off with a bang, we've chosen a problem that isn't too hard if you can figure out the first move--- but then again, that's the hard part!

Here's the situation.

WHITE

BLACK
Black to Play and Draw

B:W32,31,30,27,26,23,22,21,19,15:B20,14,12,10,8,7,6,4,2,1

Things seem fairly tame until you take a closer look and realize that Black is suffering from a definite lack of moves that don't lose! But there is one ... can you find it?

Clicking on Read More will show you the surprising solution. Enjoy the holiday and once again, Happy New Year!

Solution

20-24!---A 27x20 7-11 22-18 1-5 18x9 11x27 32x23 6x13 26-22 5-9 23-18 10-14 18-15 14-18 30-25 2-7 31-27 9-14 15-10 7-11 22x15 11x18 10-7 13-17 7-2 17-22 2-7 15. 22x29 7-10 29-25 10x17 25-30 etc. to a straightforward draw.

A---7-11 seems to be the only other plausible try, but the computer doesn't like it, giving this approximate line of play: 7-11 23-18 14x23 27x18 11-16 18-14 16x23 14x7 12-16 7-2 5-9 17-14 9x18 2x9 8-12 15-11 20-24 9-14 24-28 25-22 18x25 14-18 16-20 18x27 25-29 27-23 29-25 23-18 25-30 31-27 30-25 21-17 12-16 17-14 25-30 18-22 16-19 11-8 4x11 27-24 20x27 32x7 White Wins.