Checkerboard

“ As I write the above title, I wonder if there is a boy or a girl in this great American land who does not own a checker-board, or does not know how to play this delightful game. The game was brought to us from England, we cannot say how many years ago, probably by the first settlers in these then lonely wilds.
This game of checkers is a scientific one and is governed entirely by calculation. So, in order to become a good player, one has to give considerable time and thought to the subject, which is perhaps as good mental discipline as many of our less interesting school studies. ”

“ Checkers may best be learned by playing, for awhile at least, upon a board on which the white squares are numbered, some authorities advising the placing of permanent numbers in a corner of each white square, so as to be seen when the men are placed. ”

“ The checker-board is very simple, the squares being marked on the ground with a sharp stick: the men are merely shells or pebbles. The game was different from that played in civilized countries, so that we could not understand it. ”

“ THE WITNESS: I certainly cannot recall all the remarks that they made, but we have been identified as -- for recurrent training needing more varied destinations in our simulator training.
CAPTAIN MISENCIK: Are there any types of checks, flight checks, check rides that the KCAB is required to observe instead of a designated company checker or examiner?
THE WITNESS: Yes, there are. For the smaller type aircraft for captain checks that they are required to perform direct inspections or evaluations. And once annually they also perform an evaluation of the designated checkers. ”

“ Turned up a checker-board there not long ago, I wuz readin' 'bout, 'at still had the spots on—as plain and fresh as the modern white-pine board o' our'n, squared off with pencil-marks and pokeberry-juice. These is facts 'at history herself has dug out, and of course it ain't fer me ner you to turn our nose up at Checkers, whuther we ever tamper with the fool-game er not. Fur's that's concerned, I don't p'tend to be no checker-player myse'f,—but I know'd a feller onc't 'at could play, and sorto' made a business of it ”

“ Having ascertained this, take a chess-board, and place the pieces on the row of squares which run {134}from corner to corner; focus the middle one, whether it be king, queen, or knight, and take a picture; you will soon see whether the one best in the visual focus is the best on the picture, or whether the piece one or more squares in advance or behind it is clearer than the one you had previously in focus. The chess-board must be set square with the camera, so that each piece is farther off by one square. ”

“ Checkers, like those that were once so common on the door posts of public houses, are very much in favor, and so are wavy stripes, beginning with lines scarcely thicker than hairs, and swelling out to half an inch or more in breadth. ”

“ Place the baskets in a row on the floor so their numbers cannot be seen.
Choose sides, giving the red checkers to the leader of one side and the black checkers to the other. One side lines up about 10 ft. away from the baskets, the leader giving each player a checker; if there are any left he keeps them and has the privilege of throwing them. Each one in turn throws his checker into any basket, trusting to luck that they fall into a basket with a number on it.
When all have played the leader turns up each basket to see its number and counts the number of checkers thrown into it. ”

“ Place eight checker men upon the checker board as shown in the first row in the sketch. The puzzle is to get them in four piles of two men each without omitting to jump over two checker men every time a move is made. ”

“ The advantage of center squares over side squares is not so marked in Checkers as it is in Chess. There is no doubt that a piece has more mobility in the center, where there are two or four moves to choose from, than on the side where only one or two moves are possible; but a man on the side has an advantage in so far as he is backed up by the edge of the board so that he is safe from being captured until he moves. ”

“ The mounting and finish of the picture are also very fine. The second prize was awarded to a picture entitled, the "Checker-Players." An elderly man is playing checkers with a young boy, perhaps his grandson. He has made a move which puts the younger one in an unfortunate position, and the puzzled look on the boy's face as he studies the game is very good. A little girl, the boy's sister, sits at the side of the table, looking up into her brother's face, as much as to say, "Now you are in a box sure!" ”

“ Here is an extension of the last game of solitaire. All you need is a chessboard and the thirty-two pieces, or the same number of draughts or counters. In the illustration numbered counters are used. The puzzle is to remove all the counters except two, and these two must have originally been on the same side of the board; that is, the two left must either belong to the group 1 to 16 or to the other group, 17 to 32. You remove a counter by jumping over it with another counter to the next square beyond, if that square is vacant, but you cannot make a leap in a diagonal direction. ”

“ A chessboard is essentially a square plane divided into sixty-four smaller squares by straight lines at right angles. Originally it was not chequered (that is, made with its rows and columns alternately black and white, or of any other two colours) , and this improvement was introduced merely to help the eye in actual play. The utility of the chequers is unquestionable. For example, it facilitates the operation of the bishops, enabling us to see at the merest glance that our king or pawns on black squares are not open to attack from an opponent's bishop running on the white diagonals. ”

“ The Chess-board must be placed with a white square at the right-hand corner. ”

“ Occasionally a man will be found strong on both subjects, but he is the exception to the rule.
Yet the simple chequered board and the characteristic moves of the pieces lend themselves in a very remarkable manner to the devising of the most entertaining puzzles. There is room for such infinite variety that the true puzzle lover cannot afford to neglect them. It was with a view to securing the interest of readers who are frightened off by the mere presentation of a chessboard that so many puzzles of this class were originally published by me in various fanciful dresses. ”

“ The move of the Checker men is a diagonal step forward, one square at a time. If a hostile man is in his way and if the square beyond the hostile man is vacant, he must capture him by jumping over him on to the vacant square, and he must continue capturing from the square on which he lands as long as this is possible according to the above rule. ”

“ The Board.—The chess-board is not merely something upon which the game of chess is played; it is part of the game itself, for it limits, and, to some extent, controls the action of the men. In my first lesson I gave a diagram of the board with the men set out for play, and I now give an outline diagram of the board on which the name of each square is given, both from the White and the Black side. ”

“ I first deal with a few questions affecting the chessboard itself; then with certain statical puzzles relating to the Rook, the Bishop, the Queen, and the Knight in turn; then dynamical puzzles with the pieces in the same order; and, finally, with some miscellaneous puzzles on the chessboard. It is hoped that the formulæ and tables given at the end of the statical puzzles will be of interest, as they are, for the most part, published for the first time.
THE CHESSBOARD. "Good company's a chessboard." ”

“ Thus in the chess-board, the use of the designation of the place of each chess-man being determined only within that chequered piece of wood, it would cross that purpose to measure it by anything else; but when these very chess-men are put up in a bag, if any one should ask where the black king is, it would be proper to determine the place by the part of the room it was in, and not by the chessboard ”

“ An exchange always alters the move if the capturing piece is recaptured in turn. If a different piece is recaptured, it depends upon the relative position of the captured pieces, whether the move has remained with the same player or gone over to his opponent. For the purpose of calculating the move and its changes it is useful to imagine the Checker board as being composed of two "systems of squares"—the Black system containing the ranks starting with the squares 1, 9, 17 and 25, and the White system containing the other four ranks. ”

“ The questioner must have ten counters—marbles, shells, or anything small—to give away, and a counter has to be taken by any one who stirs for his own name, and by any one who hesitates, forgetting to answer to the name which is drawn by lot.
When the ten counters are given away, the questioner sits down, puts his name in the bag, and draws out another name, the owner of which has to be questioner instead, and goes at once to stand in the middle. It will be his object to get rid of the ten counters now, and the object of the players to keep their wits clear, and not be taken by surprise. ”

“ The ushers armed with a handful of good solid boards and four or five “fake” boards now pass among the audience. By a little practice they are able to pick out a skeptic or any one whom they think may cause trouble by stealing a board or tearing it open for the purpose of discovering the secret in the board. To those they give the genuine boards, and if that person should now break it open for the purpose of exposing the performer he feels very cheap on finding no preparation about it. ”

“ If you could only forget that there are thousands of circuits here, you would understand it very readily. It is the repetitions that make it seem so complicated, Now, this switchboard is divided into two parts. We call one the ‘A’ board, it takes up about two thirds of the room; and the other is the ‘B’ board. Suppose you were a subscriber connected with this central, and wished to call up some one also connected with this central. ”

“ If you can fool the cashier into giving your messenger a check book you can gamble pretty safely on his paying a check signed with the same name. In that way, you see, you can get all the blank checks you need and test the cashier's watchfulness at the same time. It's too easy. The only thing you have to look out for is not to overdraw the account. Still, you find so many checks in the mail that you can usually choose somebody's account that will stand the strain. ”

“ The third species of check is named the double check, where the King is attacked both by the Piece moved and the one discovered. The fourth description is called perpetual check, a case which arises when a player has two or more squares on which he can give check, and his opponent can only parry one check by affording an opportunity for another. If the first player then persists in the repetition of these particular checks, the game must be abandoned as drawn. ”

“ In looking at the check-roll it is forbidden to point at the names with the finger. No one may examine the check-roll at night with an open light, owing more probably to the fear of setting it on fire than to superstitious prejudices. ”

“ The competing rows must be placed where there is a blackboard at the front of each row. First player of each row has a piece of chalk. At the signal he runs to the board and makes a mark with the chalk, then he returns to his seat, and hands the chalk to the next player, [pg 110] who runs and marks in his turn. Later, players may be required to make a cross, circles, capital letters, small letters, add columns of numbers, write words, construct sentences. The teacher is the judge as to whether the marks come up to the requirements, and each team is charged with a foul for each defect. ”

“ The difficulties of securing absolute realism are of course insuperable, and the difficulties of getting absolutely correct data are very great. The more, however, this work is prosecuted, the more clearly its difficulties will be indicated, and therefore the more effectively the remedies can be provided. The more the game-board is used both on ship and shore, the more ease will be found in getting correct data for it, and the more correctly conclusions can then be deduced. ”

“ The chief objection to card cabinets or drawers is the insurmountable one of limitation to public use being fixed by the number of drawers or cabinets. With drawers in a counter front one consulter monopolises one drawer, while with tiers of three or four drawers in cabinet form never more than two persons can use it with any comfort. The exposure of only one title at a time is another serious drawback, while the peculiar daintiness of touch requisite for the proper manipulation of the cards makes the use of the catalogue a labour and a perplexity to working people with hardened finger-tips. ”

“ The expert will easily guard himself against even this small risk. For example, he may use a duplicate box, innocent of guile, ostensibly merely to contain the cards he is about to use, and after turning the pack out of it upon the table, switch this (obviously empty) box for the faked box to be used later, or after using the latter he may extract the fake and the superseded card during the journey back to his table, where the box will of course be inspection-proof. ”

“ When a player gives check, and fails to give notice by crying "Check," his adversary need not, unless he think proper, place his king out of check, nor cover.
[If it is discovered that the king is in check, and has been so for several moves past, the players must move the men back to the point at which they stood when check was given. If they cannot agree as to when check was first given, the player who is in check must retract his last move, and defend his king.] The player who effects checkmate wins the game. Stalemate constitutes a draw game. ”