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Disguise Your Shots

© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
You may print this and show it to others. But, this article will eventually be part of a book that I am writing. So, please do not distribute it widely.

If you need help reading checkers notation, please print out the numbered board.

If you threaten a simple shot (a simple two-for-one, in which you give up one piece in order to capture two pieces, for example), your opponent will probably see it coming, and maybe avoid it. Shots can be more effective, if they are disguised. Here are a few ways that shots are disguised:

  1. Combine - Combine two or more simple shots into a more complicated shot. An example would be a two-for-two (giving up two pieces to get a double jump) which sets up a two-for-one (giving up one piece to get a double jump). Many of the famous games, on these pages, are done this way.
  2. In-and-out shot - See my article on the In and Out Shot.
  3. Force a favorable ending - The shot comes out even in material, but you have a winning ending (First Position, for example). This is particularly effective if you know that the ending is a win, but your opponent does not. There are a few examples in my article on Famous Opening Shots.
  4. Ignore the threat - Your opponent threatens to jump (or maybe win a piece later), but you ignore the threat (he/she is then often committed to the jump) and set up a shot instead. He/she probably expected you to meet the threat directly. Examples of this are found in Moorehead-Wyllie, Wyllie-Dewar, Drummond-Hudson, Campbell-Reed, Barker-Hefter, Chalmers-Bell, friend-Alma, and Fool's Mate, Tourist Trap, and Hole In The Dyke in Famous Opening Shots.
  5. Threats - Use threats to force your opponent to set up your simple shot. Example: You threaten to take a piece, so your opponent has to move it, right to where you wanted it.
  6. Boomerang - Look beyond the end of your opponent's shot, and see if you have a shot. You let him have his shot, and then you have yours. An example is the Boomerang Trap, in my article on Famous Opening Shots.

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