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© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy
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others. But, this article will eventually be part of a book that I am writing.
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If you need help reading checkers notation, please print out the numbered board.
This game was played on ItsYourTurn.com game service. Some of the players use handles instead of their real names. The style of checkers here is go-as-you-please.
This game may not be earth-shakingly brilliant or theoretically important, but I think it is educational. The opening transposes into the Black Doctor, a gambit in which a piece is sacrificed (something like chess gambits where a pawn is sacrificed) to immobilize an entire side of Red's position. Being a piece ahead, Red does have an advantage here. As White, it is tempting to worry about this, and search for a chance to regain the piece. I think this is the wrong attitude when playing a gambit. I think it is Red who should be worried, and should be searching for the draw. In the game, you will see that Red's losing mistake is in refusing to take the book draw (either he did not know the book draw, or he was trying to win). Red probably did not think there was a danger of losing, when still a piece ahead. This varying from the published draw might have been OK, if Red had backed it up with plenty of supporting analysis of the position, with a nearly forced draw or win. Instead, it was relatively easy to refute.
Steve - Jim Loy, 2002 ItsYourTurn.com, August Tournament, round
#3
11-15 23-19 8-11 22-17 4-8 (Old Fourteenth) 25-22 9-13 17-14
10-17 19-10 7-14 (transposing into a variation of the Black Doctor gambit:
11-15 23-19 8-11 22-17 9-13 17-14 10-17 19-10 7-14 25-22 4-8) 27-23 2-7
(more popular is 11-16 29-25 2-7 or 3-7 to draw, in Lees' Guide)
22-18 (29-25 11-16 is back to the Lees' Guide draw) 6-10 18-9
5-14 29-25 (I don't think White can avoid this draw) 11-15?(A)
25-22 8-11 32-27 (I see that this is given as a win by W. W. Pulley in
Elam's Checker Board, Oct. 1958) 3-8 (a nice try is 12-16 24-20*
WW, as the tempting 24-19 may only draw) 24-19 15-24 27-20 11-15 (1-6
22-18 6-9 23-19 WW J. Smarra, ECB, Jan. 1959) 23-18 WW (a little
shot).
A - The losing mistake. White will regain the piece, and Red will not be able to king. 11-16 is back to the Lees' Guide draw, which is actually Red's best chance to win. Continue 23-19* 16-23 26-19 8-11 (1-6 or 7-11 draw, Loy) 24-20 11-15 30-26* 15-24 28-19 14-18 (or 7-11 draws PP) 21-14 10-17 26-22 17-26 31-15 13-17 25-21 17-22 21-17 22-26 20-16 26-31 15-11 7-10 11-7 10-15 or 31-26 draw in Lees' Guide, which White could still lose, if he/she is careless.