Does anyone out there have a copy of the American Checker Review (ACR), Volume IV or V. If so, would you solve a mystery for me? (It is not in Jake Kacher's on-line library.)
Many years ago, I was told by Irving Windt that Problem 59 in the SLOCUM STROKES book was first published as Problem 102, colors reversed, in the November 1, 1893, issue of ACR, Volume V, Page 174.
I have reason to question that date, but I do not have Volume V of ACR. If you have it, please let me know if that is the correct date for ACR Problem 102.
The reason I question it is that Jim Loy sent me a scanned image of the same problem as it appeared as Problem 314 in the October 8, 1892, issue of the Chicago Inter Ocean. That is more than a year earlier than the above ACR date.
The mystery is that Inter Ocean Problem 314 referenced the "AMERICAN CHECKER REVIEW". How could it do that if the problem had not yet been published in the ACR?
Either Irving Windt gave me the wrong ACR date, or the ACR published it twice, the first time being before October 8, 1892. It is not in ACR Volumes I, II, or III (I checked). But I don't have Volume IV. If you have it, please let me know if you can find the same problem published there before October 8, 1892. If it was, what was the ACR Problem number and date?
Here is the Problem as originally published: Black on 6 and 7; Black king on 4; White on 12, 20, and 31; Black to Play and Win. Very nice!
Original Source of this Problem is a Mystery
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Bill Salot
- Posts: 448
- Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:57 am
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Bill Salot
- Posts: 448
- Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:57 am
Re: Original Source of this Problem is a Mystery
We can close the loop on this one. The mystery has been solved, thanks to both Russ Rader of Livonia, Michigan, and Liam Stephens of Ireland. And what a confused saga it was!
The first confusing factor was that John T. Denvir, who edited a checker column in the Chicago Inter Ocean from May 25, 1889 to November 20, 1910, took on the more prestigious challenge of editing the full size Chicago checker journal known as the American Checker Review (ACR) beginning on January 1, 1892. So when, presumably in September 1892, George H. Slocum submitted his nice 3x3 problem (above), Mr. Denvir had the option of putting it in either of his two publications.
What he did was to publish it as Problem No. 102 in Volume IV of ACR, dated October 1, 1892. Then, a week later, he published it as Problem No. 314 in his Inter Ocean column, dated October 8, 1892, with a reference to its prior publication in ACR. It was a neat way for Mr. Denvir to use Slocum's problem for publicizing his new ACR editorship.
The second confusing factor is that when 1893 rolled around and ACR Volume V began, Mr. Denvir started renumbering its problems beginning with a new Problem No. 1. Hence another ACR Problem No. 102 appeared in the Volume V, November 1, 1893 issue, but it was of course a different problem. It was credited to A. J Heffner.
Now as luck would have it, Heffner's Volume V, November 1, 1893, ACR Problem No. 102 was on the same page with ACR Problem Nos. 97 through 101, and those five neighboring problems were all by George H. Slocum.
Obviously then I must have switched the two ACR Problem No. 102's, thus creating the mystery that was bugging me.
I can't thank sleuths Rader and Stephens enough for rescuing me from the asylum.
The first confusing factor was that John T. Denvir, who edited a checker column in the Chicago Inter Ocean from May 25, 1889 to November 20, 1910, took on the more prestigious challenge of editing the full size Chicago checker journal known as the American Checker Review (ACR) beginning on January 1, 1892. So when, presumably in September 1892, George H. Slocum submitted his nice 3x3 problem (above), Mr. Denvir had the option of putting it in either of his two publications.
What he did was to publish it as Problem No. 102 in Volume IV of ACR, dated October 1, 1892. Then, a week later, he published it as Problem No. 314 in his Inter Ocean column, dated October 8, 1892, with a reference to its prior publication in ACR. It was a neat way for Mr. Denvir to use Slocum's problem for publicizing his new ACR editorship.
The second confusing factor is that when 1893 rolled around and ACR Volume V began, Mr. Denvir started renumbering its problems beginning with a new Problem No. 1. Hence another ACR Problem No. 102 appeared in the Volume V, November 1, 1893 issue, but it was of course a different problem. It was credited to A. J Heffner.
Now as luck would have it, Heffner's Volume V, November 1, 1893, ACR Problem No. 102 was on the same page with ACR Problem Nos. 97 through 101, and those five neighboring problems were all by George H. Slocum.
Obviously then I must have switched the two ACR Problem No. 102's, thus creating the mystery that was bugging me.
I can't thank sleuths Rader and Stephens enough for rescuing me from the asylum.
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George Hay
- Posts: 1044
- Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:41 am
- What do you like about checkers?: Checkers is a game of pure logic.
- Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Re: Original Source of this Problem is a Mystery
Bill Salot wrote:
Here is the Problem as originally published: Black on 6 and 7; Black king on 4; White on 12, 20, and 31; Black to Play and Win. Very nice!
Bill, and a nice bit of detective work on your part!
Of course ACF Forum readers can check out the solution (Problem #59, colors reversed) and much more in Slocum Strokes:
http://www.online-museum-of-checkers-hi ... /id71.html
This is a good basic checkers 101 problem, I am amazed at the range of problems by George H. Slocum!
--George Hay