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Play Winning Checkers - by Robert Pike

Book Review, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy

I have been threatening to write a checkers how-to book for several years now. The project keeps getting side tracked. Well, Mr. Pike has written a book similar to what I had in mind. It looks like a good book, with both educational chapters (shots and endings) and entertaining chapters (about Tinsley and Chinook and other versions of checkers). There are no annotated games in the book. By the way, it is an "Official American Mensa Game Book."

Addendum: The book has a strangely verbose way of describing checker moves: "White starts with 27 to 23 and Black has to move to 29 (if he went to 30, White would win immediately by sliding from 26 to 22 for a pinning win). Next, White goes from 23 to 18 and Black moves back out from 29 to 25 (21 to 25 would be an instant loser because White would move from 26 to 30 for a blocking win). Then White moves his king on 26 to 30 and it's essentially over. Black can only move his king back to 29 and be trapped as White slides his monarch on 18 to 22." Mr. Pike has this tip for solving one of the problems: "Black is unflappable. He doesn't panic and thinks ahead for a nice win." Thanks a lot.

I suppose Mr. Pike thinks that this style is better attuned to beginners than a simple: 27-23 25-29 (25-30 26-22 WW) 23-18 29-25 (21-25 26-30 WW) 26-30 25-29 18-22 WW. At first, I thought Mr. Pike's style was quaint. But, I got very tired of it after a while (one reader sent me email, complaining about it). Incidentally, I took this example from Mr. Pike's 101 Checker Puzzles, also an Official American Mensa Game Book. Here Mr. Pike was describing the solution to a position by W. Payne, without any mention of W. Payne. In fact none of the 101 positions in this book is attributed to any composer, and I object. This is a beautiful and educational book. But it does a great disservice to the many composers from whom Mr. Pike borrows without giving credit. I assume that very few of the problems in this book are original.

By the way, the first problem in the book is an impossible position (Red is about to make his 12th move while White has only made 10 moves). See Boland's Famous Positions about "Impossible Settings." The second problem (shown on the left) is a problem by John T. Denvir (it took a lot of searching through books to find it at the end of Denvir's Traps and Shots). Mr. Pike gives 20-16 to win, but Denvir pointed out that 11-20! draws. Denvir didn't show this continuation: 30-26* (32-28? loses) 13-22 25-4 14-18 23-14 10-17 21-14 3-8 draw. The third problem is the famous "fool's mate," colors reversed, making it another impossible position (White has made three moves, and Red has made 2).

To order Play Winning Checkers, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).

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