Return to my checkers pages
Go to my home page
Copyright 1996, 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.
For most of its length, this ending is not very difficult. There are two or three places where you should be careful. And there's a clever trick at the end. But, most of all, it just takes many moves to get to the end. This is another of Payne's endings from 1756 (This diagram is not the same as his).
In diagram #1, notice that White has the move. And Red's pieces are absolutely prevented from advancing. White's plan is to king both of his pieces. You will soon see how helpless Red is.
From diagram #1: 28-24 (27-23? allows the piece on 20 to king) 29-25 24-19 25-22 19-15 (If the Red king were not on 22, then 27-23 would win in a similar way. Here, 27-23? 22-26 draw) 22-17 15-18 17-13 18-22 13-9 30-26 9-14 26-23 14-10 23-18 10-6 18-14 6-1 14-9 1-5 9-6 5-9 6-2 (Or 6-1. White now prepares to king the other piece) 9-5 2-6 5-1 6-10 1-5 10-15 5-9 15-19 9-14 27-23 14-10 23-18 10-6 18-14 6-1 14-9 1-5 9-6 5-9 6-2 (Or 6-1. Now White will improve his position) 9-5 2-6 5-1 6-10 23-27 (Preparing the tricky part) 10-14 19-23 14-10 23-18 10-6 18-14 6-1 14-9 1-5 [diagram #2]
This is
the position that White has been playing for. Continue from diagram #2: 22-17!
(White gives up the move, and later regains it) 5-14 17-10 21-25 10-15 25-30
15-19 30-26 27-32 26-22 19-24 WW. Here White regains the move. This last part
(from diagram #2) was clever. But now that you've seen it, you can do it too.
Replay the entire ending, and see if you can plan out the clever final
moves.
How often does this come up? Fairly often, actually. You sometimes see the Red pieces less advanced:
I
actually played diagram #3 recently, against my computer. I had gone through
the entire rigamarole of kinging 2 pieces, while Red's king moved around
helplessly. The win here is similar to diagram #2: 22-17! 5-14 17-10 21-25
10-15 25-30 11-16 (regaining the move) 12-19 15-24 30-26 24-27 WW.
One important thing that you can learn from this ending is the idea that you can freeze your opponent's pieces, while you king all of yours. This happens a lot. The Second Position (in these diagrams) is just one of the most complicated examples of this technique.
Diagram
#4 is a position from one of my games. It reminds me of Second Position (colors
reversed (C.R.) from the other diagrams). Red has successfully kinged his
pieces while preventing White from kinging his, just as in Second Position. If
White can be forced to advance the piece on 20, then we would have Second
Position.
Can Red force White's pieces to advance? The answer is, "No." Red can never immobilize White's king without letting one of the pieces king.
But Red can tempt White to advance his pieces: 22-18 28-32 19-15 20-16?? (Certainly not forced) 23-19 16-12 15-11 32-28 18-14 28-32 19-24 32-28 (Almost identical to diagram #3, C.R.) 11-16 28-19 16-23 12-8 23-18 8-3 14-17 RW.
Second Position was very helpful here, in suggesting that it would be nice if White advanced his piece on 20. White blundered with 20-16? I don't see any hope of a win if White just moves his king back and forth. Some knowledge of Second Position would have convinced White not to push his pieces.