Would they have made the same mistakes with checkers?

[jaguar72]

If you think you've had a really bad day and played a lot of errors (checkers or chess), go to this website:

http://www.unclebens.com/

On the right side you'll see some yellow recipe-type cards (Uncle Ben's sells some very good rice products, as I'm sure you all know); click on "Visit Ben's Office"; when the office graphic comes up, click on the arrow on the lower right and a chessboard on a table will load; click on the chessboard and it enlarges and automatically plays a short game...well, kind of...at least that was apparently the idea.

The problem is that the board is oriented incorrectly (black square on the lower right), the positons of the bishops and knights are reversed, and, of course the queens are on the wrong squares. The mild irony is that if you click on the individual pieces little signs pop up telling you in various ways that chess is a metaphor for life, an intellectual struggle, etc, etc, etc. The usual stuff. Yeah, sure.

Of course it doesn't really matter; companies that use chess as an intellectual hook to sell stuff usually get it wrong. But, for sure, if I were the CEO of Mars (or whoever owns Uncle Ben's) and I had paid (undoubtedly) big bucks to some ad agency that didn't do its homework (thirty seconds on Google would have done the trick...) I would be far from happy.

Would they have made the same mistakes with checkers?? Probably, and you just know the checkers would have been red and black... .

Anyhow, visit the site; it's good for a laugh I guess, kind of... .

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[jaguar72]

John and All,

Yeah, it's a pretty grim production all the way around.

FYI, I did send them a very brief email (you can contact them from the site...) six months or so (maybe more) ago when I first noticed the chess graphic (actually my wife noticed it) very respectfully telling them that as much as I liked the site graphics, the chess board was set up incorrectly; just a "you might want to know this" kind of thing. Nothing the least bit strident or "in-your-face", you understand.

I received a "Thank you for your interest in Uncle Ben's products" type of response and that was it. I tried again about three months later with much the same result. I got the impression the neither response was "canned", i.e., I think a real, live person answered the mail, but obviously it wasn't passed along or they don't care. I don't really care either but I thought it was something they might want to correct for exactly the reasons you mentioned, John.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[steve]

see ryans book 'championship checkers simplified' problem #31 [page 160]-a add for granger rough cut tobacco-maybe some one could scan the whole article.

[jaguar72]

Steve,

I have four Willie Ryan books but that is one, alas, I do not have... .

I did find a brand-skippy-new (apparently unread) copy (with the dust jacket!) of Dr. Shuffett's Checkers the Tinsley Way on eBay two weeks ago for a mere twenty bucks (I was the sole bidder). The Asa Long games, amongst many others, are particularly good.

Ryan's stuff is getting harder and harder to find; in general, there seem to be very few (if any) new checkers titles (or republished titles, for that matter) in the pipeline.

Alex's Sixth is a superb exception; an amazing checkers book.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[jaguar72]

And speaking of checker/chess boards with the wrong orientation, we were in Paris in February and I visited Alexander Alekhine's grave at Montparnasse Cemetery...after being weather damaged some years ago the grave has been rebuilt but I noticed the chessboard orientation was, ah, not right (at least when you are facing the grave). Anyhow, I thought I was just being excessively critical but perhaps not...take a look at the very last picture at the bottom of this chessbase page:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3005

The orientation is, of course, correct if it's a representation of two players viewed from the side. Who knows?

Anyhow, I left a black ebony bishop (the only extra piece I had) on the board (on a correct square), as a small tribute to AA. I wonder if it's still there? Gross sentimentality on my part, I guess, because Alekhine was, I gather, not a very nice guy but he was, d'abord, a World Champion and produced many beautiful games.

He also, I think, played checkers but I have not been able to verify this. Perhaps some of our other members know for sure?

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Jay H]

Fascinating !!! Thanx for the link.....

Regards,

Jay H

[whitefork]

It's a nice problem. Ryan's text:

Black: 2, 6, 7, 10
White: 9, 11, 13, 16
Black to play and draw

In 1931 the Newell-Emmett Co. of New York City, advertising representatives for the Liggett-Myers Tobacco Co., featured problem No. 31 in a series of nationally distributed lithographs for billboards, to advertise Granger Rough Cut Tobacco. The lithographs depicted two men playing a game of checkers. One player was an elderly gent with white hair, smoking a pipe; the other a dapper young blade in the prime of life. The old veteran was handling the white pieces and was all smiles. The theme of the sketch was to show that the old man had is younger opponent in a losing position, thanks to Granger Rough Cut Tobacco in his pipe. After working on the position for several days, Ryan finally found a narrow draw for the young man (black pieces). He then wrote to the Newell-Emmett Co., to inquire why the artist had pictured the old man in such a jubilant mood, when, as a matter of fact, the youth had a draw on the board. The company informed Ryan that he was wrong; that regardless of how the young fellow moved, he was bound to lose. This prompted Ryan to challenge the company, offering to wager fifty dollars he could take the young man's pieces (black) against anyone, and get a draw. The company didn't bite on that one! Later Ryan featured the Granger Tobacco problem in his 'Checkergram' magazine, citing the foregoing facts, and offering a prize to the first reader who could find the elusive draw. Nobody succeeded. The late great analyst, Charles Hefter of Kankakee, Ill., was among those who failed to fathom No. 31. He wrote to Ryan, "You are a Houdini if you can get a draw out of this one".

10-15*, 11-8--A, 7-10*, 8-3, 10-14*, 3-8, 14-17*--B, 8-11, 15-18, 11-15, 18-22, 16-11, 22-25*--C, 11-8, 25-30, 8-3, 30-26, 3-8, 26-23, 15-11, 17-22, 11-7, 2-11, 8-15, 23-18, drawn

A--9-5, 7-10*, 5-1, 6-9*, 13-6, 2-9, 1-6, 9-13, 11-8, 10-14, 8-3, 15-19, etc., drawn.
B--6-10 loses by 9-6, 2-9, 13-6, 14-17, 6-2, 10-14, 2-6, 15-18, 6-10, 18-23, 8-11, 23-26, 11-15, 26-30, 16-11, 30-25, 11-7, 25-21, 7-2, white wins.
C--17-21 loses by 11-8, 21-25, 8-3, 25-30, 3-8, 30-26, 8-11, 26-30 (22-25, 11-8, 25-30, 15-11, 30-25, 11-7, white wins), 15-19!, 6-10, 11-15, 10-14, 15-18, white wins.