Inside Checkers, Walton W. Walker

[jaguar72]

All,

Mr. Al Darrow. an ACF member from Connecticut, sent me the following review of, and his further comments on, Inside Checkers which pretty much answers the question I first asked in this Forum topic! Once again, many thanks to all the members who contributed to this part of the Forum.

The bolded text was supplied by Mr. Darrow (who gave me permission to post it on the Forum). This is good stuff!:

A review of Walton W. Walker's Inside Checkers by Manson D. Teetzel (Editor), American Checker Monthly, Vol. II, No. 5 (May, 1922.)

"This is a big, well printed book of 200 pages by and for an amateur. The author, a Chicagoan, otherwise unknown to checker fame and plainly not of class A qualifications, styles it 'a revelation of scientific play.' It contains an explanatory arrangement of successive moves of some 29 games, a half dozen 'study problems', 30 problems (six of them Mr. Walker's ) and a 30-page appendix.

Some of Mr. Walker's explanations are, good, some crude. In game 29, Bristol Cross, at ninth move, he plays 2-7, a Lee's' Guide loss, and thus leads his amateur student astray. In 'Study Position No. 1', he misses the obvious first move which steals a piece at once and wins. In 'Study Position No. 5', he boasts of winning a dollar without realizing he should have lost it.

The Lees' Guide Bristol Cross loss was first shown in the Second (1893) Edition. Lees quoted Henry F. Shearer 'dating his variations 3/12/92 (Saturday, December 3, 1892.)' probably referring to Shearer's column in the (Dundee) Peoples Journal for that date. J. E. Richards (Ninth Improved Ed. 1908-1914) and John W. Dawson's New Edition, Revised and Improved. 1914 onward) continued quoting Shearer's play with Dawson adding a 10-15 variation labeled 'White has a powerful ending.' John Greg showed this ending to be a loss in his later (1930) Supplement to Dawson's Revision.

The various editions and printings of Lees' Guide form a confusing array of official and unofficial items. Kenneth Lovell sorts things out nicely in his Draughts Books of the Twentieth Century. The preface in the first edition was dated September, 1892. We learn from the second edition (Preface: October, 1893) that this first edition had a printing of 3000 copies. These were eagerly snapped up within a year.

Lees continued publishing his work until his death in 1899. He was born in 1864 with a debilitating disease that prevented him from tournament or match participation. Prominent players would visit him (James Wyllie among them). He proved to be a worthy crossboard opponent.

Alex Bryson, who visited him annually in the fall, wrote a touching obituary in the Draughts World (November, 1899, pp. 681-83.)

One of the favorite items in my library, is a presentation copy of Kear's Reprint of the Second Edition of Drummond's Scottish Draughts Player. It was sent to Julian D. Janvier , a famous nineteenth century compiler of checker games, and signed by the publishers, James Andrew Kear, his son and the editor, James Lees.

I mentioned the Bristol Cross loss of Walton's Game 29. In his Position No. 1, he overlooked a win by 18-15 at the first move. His 10-14 move allows a fairly easy draw by 19-16. Compare this setting with the Pocket Theme discussed in Boland's Familiar Themes (p. 10, there it is called 'The Squeeze' in the table of contents. Wiswell used the more descriptive term 'Pocket' in his Checker Magic, p. 56, No. 43. His idea pops up many times, often unexpectedly. Another example: Boland's Checkers In Depth, p. 39, No. 3, Note A. I rediscovered this play in 1967, little knowing that I had been anticipated by A. J. Dunlap and J. Thompson in the summer following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln! Difficult to find anything new in positions with 4X4 or fewer pieces.

In Walker's Position No. 5, at move 12, 11-15 allows Red to gain a move and beat White to the attack. Indeed Walker should have lost the bet!

There you have it. Thanks Mr. Darrow!

V/R,

Gary jenkins/jaguar72

[tommyc]

Nice one Gary............ive been trying to contact Al Darrow as his old email addy isnt working do you have it.?

[Palomino]

Hi everyone,

Al Darrow told me today that you can read INSIDE CHECKERS online.
Here is the link...

http://openlibrary.org/details/insidech ... 00walkrich

..."Pal"

[jaguar72]

Pal and Al and All,

Thanks Pal and AL! I tried this link:

http://www.archive.org/details/insidech ... 00walkrich

and clicked on "Flip Book (Beta)" over on the left side with spectacular results (or maybe I'm just easily entertained...).

Quite amazing.

Again, thanks to all who have taken the time to address this topic. ACF has gotta be the best online community there is.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[liam stephens]

Lees Guide and Checker Classics by E A Smith are also available to read online at the Openlibrary.org site referred to above.