Continuing:
25-22(B) 11-15 (10-15 29-25 draw, Ryan) 18-11 8-15 23-18 7-11(D)
29-25 4-8 31-26 2-7 26-23 15-19 23-16 12-19 27-24 19-23 24-19 23-26 19-16 8-12
32-27 12-19 18-14 9-18 22-8 may be a draw (Loy). Return to my Checkers pages
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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
You may print this and show it to others. But, this article will eventually be
part of a book that I am writing. So, please do not distribute it widely.
If you need help reading checkers notation, please print out the numbered board.
This article shows how a checkers player searches for cooks. A cook is a new move or correction to published play. I study published games and analysis. I see if maybe I disagree on the published assessment of some variations. Then I study the positions some more, usually finding that the published assessment was correct, after all. Examples of that are variations B and C, below. My versions may be sharper than the published games. But, the published assessment of "draw" seems to be correct, in both cases.
This is an interesting position from Willie Ryan's Checkers Made Easy. Ryan sometimes went overboard, when claiming that this or that variation wins or draws. But, mostly his analysis is very sound, more so than most authors. Here is a position that I decided to study. I think that I have found draws in two of the lines (the main variation below, and note D) that Ryan said were wins for Red.
10-15 21-17 6-10 (Ryan recommends this move, which is weak) 17-13 (17-14 is stronger) 1-6* 23-18 (23-19 may be stronger) 12-16* 24-20 16-19 25-21 19-24 (recommended by Ryan, and is now standard) 28-19 15-24 26-23 8-12 30-25(A) 3-8! (Ryan) 22-17 24-28 [diagram]
Continuing:
25-22(B) 11-15 (10-15 29-25 draw, Ryan) 18-11 8-15 23-18 7-11(D)
29-25 4-8 31-26 2-7 26-23 15-19 23-16 12-19 27-24 19-23 24-19 23-26 19-16 8-12
32-27 12-19 18-14 9-18 22-8 may be a draw (Loy).
A - Ryan shows this tense variation: 29-25 24-28 30-26 10-15 18-14 9-18 23-14 4-8 26-23 12-16 22-17 16-19 23-16 6-9 13-6 2-18 27-23! 18-27 32-23 8-12 31-26 12-19 23-16 28-32 17-14 32-27 26-22 27-23 22-17 15-18 16-12 18-22 25-18 23-19 18-15 11-18 12-8 3-12 14-9 draw, W. Ryan - L. M. Lewis. Ryan calls this game "L. M. Lewis vs. W. Ryan." But, from the commentary, it is evident that he got the names backward, as he may have done in many other (maybe all) games in this book.
B - This is the move that I studied. Ryan goes on with 27-24(C) 10-15 25-22 12-16 17-14* (31-26 loses, Ryan) 6-10 13-6 10-26 31-22 2-9 21-17 9-13 (7-10 draws PP) 29-25 5-9! 17-14 8-12 14-5 13-17 22-13 15-29 5-1 29-25 1-6 25-22 13-9 4-8 6-2 7-10 2-7 & 9-5 may draw (Loy).
C - 18-14 9-18 23-14 11-15! (6-9 13-6 2-18 31-26 10-15 17-14 12-16 25-22 draws in Churchill) 14-9 (31-26 8-11 27-24 12-16 26-22 6-9 BW, Loy) 5-14 13-9 6-22 25-9 might draw (Loy).
D - Ryan stops here, saying, "7-11 or 15-19 both look like winners." Try 15-19 27-24! 4-8 (19-23? 18-15 10-19 24-15 23-26 15-11 7-16 20-11 26-30 31-26 or 22-18 WW?) 24-15 10-19 18-15 19-23 29-25 23-26 (7-10 31-27 draw) 22-18 26-30 31-26 or 17-14 draw (Loy).
In some editions of Checkers Made Easy, Ryan colored the pieces in his diagrams black and red.