Part 64
_=Kings.=_ When a man arrives at any of the four squares on the edge of the board farthest from the side on which he started, he becomes a King, and is _=crowned=_ by putting another man of the same colour on the top of him. In diagrams, kings are distinguished by putting a ring round the single man. ⦾ ⦿. Kings can move either backward or forward, but only one square at a time. If a man arrives at the king-row by capturing an adverse piece, that ends the move, and the newly made king cannot move again, even to capture another piece, until his adversary has moved. [See notes to Diagram No. 7.]
_=The Object of the Game=_ is to confine your adversary’s pieces so that he cannot move any of them; or to capture all of them, so that he has none to move. You may succeed in confining the whole twelve of your adversary’s men, without capturing any of them, as in Diagram No. 2; or such as are left on the board after a certain number have been captured, as in Diagram No. 3.
Diagram No. 2 is the ending of our Illustrative Game No. 7.
In No. 3, White gives away a man, bottling up the three black men, and then catches the other black man. In both these examples it will then be Black’s move, and as he cannot move, White wins.
_=Notation.=_ The various moves which take place in the course of a game are recorded by giving each square on the board a number, and putting down the number of the square the man is moved from, and the one it is moved to. Only those squares upon which the men stand are numbered, and the black men are always supposed to be originally placed upon the lower numbers, from 1 to 12; the white men being placed upon the squares numbered from 21 to 32. Diagrams Nos. 4 and 5 show the method of numbering the board, and the men placed in position.
In checker notation the number of the move is never given, as it is in Chess. The moves of the black men are distinguished from those of the white men by being hyphenated, but there are no marks to show when pieces are captured. Letters or figures in the margins are used to refer to possible variations in the play.
_=Openings.=_ There are a number of standard openings in Checkers which are formed by the preliminary moves on each side. These openings are known by various fanciful names, dear to all checker-players. In the following list they are arranged in alphabetical order for convenience in reference.
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | |AYRSHIRE | | | | | | | ALMA. | LASSIE. |BRISTOL. | CENTRE. | CROSS. |DEFIANCE.| DENNY. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-16 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-14 | | 23 19 | 24 20 | 24 20 | 23 19 | 23 18 | 23 19 | | | 8-11 | 8-11 | 16-19 | 8-11 | | 9-14 | | | 22 17 | | | 22 17 | | 27 23 | | | 3- 8 | | | 15-18 | | | | +=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+ | | DOUBLE | | | | | | | DYKE. | CORNER. | DUNDEE. |EDINBURG.| FIFE. |GLASGOW. | KELSO. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 9-14 | 12-16 | 9-13 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-15 | | 22 17 | | | | 23 19 | 23 19 | | | 15-19 | | | | 9-14 | 8-11 | | | | | | | 22 17 | 22 17 | | | | | | | 5- 9 | 11-16 | | +=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+ | | | | | SECOND | | | | LAIRD | MAID OF | OLD | | DOUBLE | SINGLE | | |AND LADY.|THE MILL.| 14TH. |PAISLEY. | CORNER. | CORNER. | SOUTER. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-16 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | | 23 19 | 22 17 | 23 19 | 24 19 | 24 19 | 22 18 | 23 19 | | 8-11 | 8-11 | 8-11 | | | | 9-14 | | 22 17 | 17 13 | 22 17 | | | | 22 17 | | 9-13 | 15-18 | 4- 8 | | | | 6- 9 | +=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+=========+ | | | WILL O’ | WHITE | | |SWITCHER.|WHILTER. |THE WISP.| DYKE. | IRREGULAR OPENINGS. | | | | | | | | | | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 11-15 | 10-15 | | 21 17 | 23 19 | 23 19 | 22 17 | 22 17 | 23 19 | 22 18 | | | 9-14 | 9-13 | 8-11 | 8-11 | 8-11 | 15-22 | | | 22 17 | | 17 14 | 25 22 | 22 17 | 25 18 | | | 7-11 | | | | | | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
_=The Middle Game.=_ The best way for the student to learn the manner in which the various openings are followed up, is to play over illustrative games, and in doing so he should be careful always to play with the winning side next him. In selecting openings, take those that show the greatest number of wins for the side you propose to play. In all checker books there are marks at the foot of the column to show which side has an advantage, if any exists, at the end of each variation. The Alma, for instance, shows a great many more winning variations for the black men than for the white, and is consequently one of the best openings for Black.
Any person who plays correctly can always be sure of avoiding defeat; that is, no one can beat him if he makes no slips, and the worst he can get is a draw. It is a common error to suppose that the first move is an advantage. [See Illustrative Game No. 7.]
The strategy of the game consists in so deploying your men that alluring openings are left for your adversary. These openings are always pitfalls of the most dangerous character, and whenever you think a good player has made a mistake and left you a chance, you should examine the position with great care, or you will probably walk into a trap. The first of the example games given in this work is a case in point. White’s move, 27 24, is apparently the best possible, yet it immediately and hopelessly loses the game. Sometimes these traps are set very early in the opening, and sometimes after the pieces have been pretty well developed.
There are many cases in which a good player may take advantage of the weakness of an adversary by making moves which are really losing moves, and which would lead to immediate defeat if he were opposed by an expert. But if he feels that his adversary is not skilful enough to take advantage of these losing moves, a winning position may sometimes be rapidly obtained by departing from the regular development of the opening.
The beginner should be satisfied with learning only one or two forms of the openings, committing to memory as many variations as possible. When he meets with a line of play that beats him, he should study out the variation in his text books, and see at what point he made the losing move. To be perfect in any one opening a person must know at least five hundred variations by heart; but if he finds himself caught in a variation which he does not remember, or has never learned, he should trust to good judgment rather than to defective memory.
_=The End Game=_ usually resolves itself into one of four well-known positions. These four positions are those in which there is a win for one side or the other owing to the peculiar position occupied by the opposing forces, although they may be numerically equal. Every checker player must know these four positions thoroughly, or he may abandon many a game as drawn which he could win, and may lose many a game which he could draw. These four positions are here given as they are usually found in the books, but the player must be able to recognize at once any position which resembles them, or can be made to lead up to them. The student will find many games marked as “won” in which he cannot see any winning position unless he is familiar with the four endings. The expert strives to exchange his men so as to bring about one of these positions, after which he knows he has a won game, although his less skilful adversary may be unconscious of his advantage.
The first position is one of the most common endings on the checker board, and should be very thoroughly understood. The letters in the margin refer to the variations. There are a great many minor variations, for which the student must be referred to Janvier’s Anderson, page 265.
_=First Position.=_ 27-32 8 11 32-27 11 7 27-23 7 10 22-26 A 10 6 26-31 6 9 31-26 9 6 26-22 6 10 23-18 10 6 18-14 6 1 22-18 1 6 18-15 6 1 15-10 1 5 10- 6 5 1 14-13 1 5 6- 1 5 9 1- 5 9 13 10-14 13 9 14-18 9 6 18-15 30 25 15-18 6 10 5- 1 25 21 1- 5 10 6 18-15 21 17 5- 1 6 9 15-18 17 13 18-15 9 14 1- 5 14 17 15-10 17 22 10-14 22 25 5- 1 25 22 1- 6 22 25 6-10 25 22 10-15 22 25 15-18 25 21 B wins ------ Var A. 30 25 23-18 10 6 18-14 6 1 26-30 25 21 30-25 1 5 25-22 5 1 22-18 1 5 18-15 5 1 15-10 1 5 10- 6 5 1 14-10 1 5 6- 1 5 9 10-15 B 9 5 15-18 5 9 1- 5 9 6 18-15 21 17 5- 1 6 9 15-18 9 5 18-22 17 14 1- 6 5 1 6- 2 1 5 22-17 14 9 B wins ------ Var B. 9 14 1- 5 21 17 5- 1 17 13 1- 5 14 17 15-10 B wins
_=Second Position.=_ 1- 5 8 11 5- 9 11 15 9-14 15 11 14-18 11 16 18-15 16 20 15-11 20 24 3- 7 24 19 7-10 19 23 10-15 23 27 15-19 27 32 19-24 32 28 24-27 28 32 27-31 32 28 31-27 28 32 27-23 32 28 23-18 28 24 18-14 24 19 6-10 19 23 10-15 23 27 15-19 27 32 19-24 32 28 24-27 28 24 27-32 24 28 32-27 28 32 27-24 32 28 24-19 28 32 19-15 32 28 15-10 28 24 10- 6 24 19 14-10 19 24 10-15 24 28 15-19 28 32 19-24 32 28 11-16 28 19 16-23 12 8 23-18 8 4 18-14 4 8 6- 1 8 11 14- 9 13 6 1-10 11 16 10-15 16 20 15-19 B wins
_=Third Position.=_ White to move 18 15 A 6- 1 14 9 24-28 23 19 1- 5 9 6 B 28-32 19 24 5- 1 24 19 W wins ----- Var A. 24-28 23 27 6- 1 14 10 28-32 27 24 1- 5 10 6 W wins ------ Var B. 5- 1 6 10 W wins ------ Black to move 6- 1 18 15 C 1- 6 14 10 6- 9 23 19 24-27 15 18 D 27-32 19 24 9- 5 10 14 32-28 24 27 W wins ------ Var C. 1- 5 14 10 24-28 23 19 28-32 15 18 32-27 10 6 27-32 19 23 5- 1 6 9 W wins ------ Var D. 9- 5 10 6 27-32 19 23 5- 1 6 9 32-28 23 27 W wins
_=Fourth Position.=_ Black to play 28-24 32 28 24-20 28 32 22-18 31 27 23-19 27 31 19-24 32 27 24-28 27 32 18-22 31 27 22-26 30 23 28-24 B wins ----- White to play 31 27 23-19 27 31 19-24 32 27 24-20 27 32 22-18 31 27 28-24 27 31 18-23 31 26 Drawn
_=Traps.=_ The beginner should be on his guard against being caught, “two for one,” especially in such positions as those shown in Diagrams Nos. 6 and 7.
In No. 6, White will play 19 16, forcing you to jump, and will then play 27 23, forcing you to jump again. In No. 7, White will play 30 26, making your man a King. He will then play 32 28, and wait for your newly made King to jump. This will give him three of your men, and he will catch the other before it gets to the king row.
Another common form of trap is to get a player into such a position in the end game, when he has only one or two men, that he cannot get to the king row without being caught; sometimes because he is driven to the side of the board by the man following him, and sometimes because the man meeting him can head him off. The adversary can do this only when he has “the move.”
_=Theory of the Move.=_ When the position is such that you will be able to force your adversary into a situation from which he cannot escape without sacrificing a piece or losing the game, you are said to have the move; and if he does not change it by capturing one of your men he must lose the game. As the move is often of the greatest importance in the end game, every checker-player should understand its theory, so that he may know when it is necessary to make an exchange of men in order to secure the move, and when he should avoid an exchange which would lose it. The move is only important when the number of men on each side is equal.
In order to calculate the move, the board is supposed to be divided into two systems of squares, sixteen in each. The first system is formed by the four vertical rows running from your own side of the board, as shown by the dotted lines in Diagram No. 8. The second system runs from your adversary’s side of the board, as shown in Diagram No. 9.
FIRST SYSTEM.
SECOND SYSTEM.
In order to ascertain if you have the move when it is your turn to play, add together all the men, both black and white, in one of the systems, taking no notice of those in the other system, and if the number is _=odd=_, you have the move. In Diagram No. 10, for instance, if you have the black men, and it is your turn to play, you will find three men on your own system, and therefore you have the move, and must win by playing 10-15. When White moves, there will again be an odd number of men on your system, and you will still have the move, and he must sacrifice both his men.