Advanced problems on Al Lyman site

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Just friendly remind you, that good portion of advanced problems with solutions (and also many, many other nice things) you can find on the Al Lyman site - former ACF website ( http://www.acfcheckers.com ).

http://www.acfcheckers.com/advanced.htm

Regards,

Alex

[George Hay]

Al Lyman's site has at least two addresses, the above website is still correct ( http://www.acfcheckers.com).

However, his other address has changed, Checker World (http://www.checkerworld.org} is now the "Official Web Site" for Checker Car Club of America.

Al Lyman's Checker Word is now on Magic Checkers (http://www.magiccheckers.com/index.html)

Al Lyman has something for every checkerist on his site!

--George Hay

[Ed Trice]

Just friendly remind you, that good portion of advanced problems with solutions (and also many, many other nice things) you can find on the Al Lyman site - former ACF website ( http://www.acfcheckers.com ).

http://www.acfcheckers.com/advanced.htm

Regards,

Alex

Hi Alex,

Since I completed the 8-piece Perfect Play Database, I wanted to test it against some 4x4 problems. The databases found a much longer way to survive Advanced Problem #3 on Al Lyman's site.

The posted solution starts out in perfect agreement:

1-5, 29-25 5-9, 25-22 9-13, 22-18 30-26, 21-25 13-9 and here the human solution 25-30 leads to a pretty win.

However, 25-29! offers the Perfect Defense by walking away from the clever shot. Continue 9-5, 2-6! 10x1 for maximum longevity. 29-25 5-9, 25-30 26-23, 18x27 32x23, 30-26 23-19, 26-30 1-6, 30-26 6-10, 26-23 19-16, 23-19 16-12, 28-32 and the fight has dragged on and 3 kings vs. 2 kings is a still a good 26 moves from the end.

[Bill Salot]

I enjoy seeing collections of favorite checker problems put together by knowledgeable aficionados like Al Lyman.
Problem composing contests over the past few years have shown that we seldom agree on which problems are best, but we can enjoy the good ones nonetheless.

I see value in so-called perfect solutions when they establish draws in near hopeless situations, or for adjudicating games that would otherwise disrupt the timing of a tournament.

But I see no value in prolonging a win after it becomes apparent to all reasonable parties that it is a win, or in implying that length should supersede the beauty that wins problem contests. The existence of a hopeless variation that might prolong the agony may be a minor technical flaw in a problem competition, but few problems are that flawless.

[Ed Trice]

I see value in so-called perfect solutions when they establish draws in near hopeless situations, or for adjudicating games that would otherwise disrupt the timing of a tournament.

But I see no value in prolonging a win after it becomes apparent to all reasonable parties that it is a win, or in implying that length should supersede the beauty that wins problem contests. The existence of a hopeless variation that might prolong the agony may be a minor technical flaw in a problem competition, but few problems are that flawless.

Perfect Play refers more to the execution of the fastest win and the most arduous defense. While compositions contain "beauty" that can be appreciated by human players, sometimes that beauty exists because of a "cooperative move" made by the doomed player.

Perfect Play Databases are the harsh, objective, emotionless automatons. In winning positions, they accord no mercy. In losing positions, they will confound with the depth of their probity. Ever the spoiler, ever most-vigilant, they exist to provide a metric by which God himself must agree upon.