Return to my Checkers pages
Go to my home page

Famous Checker Game - Wyllie-Anderson

© Copyright 1996, 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.

The following game is a second famous game from the 1847 Match. Wyllie's great achievement here is in aiming for the final position, which is difficult to recognize as a Red win.

J. Wyllie - A. Anderson, 1847 Match, game #5
11-15 23-19 9-14 27-23 (Defiance) 8-11 (Or 5-9) 22-18 15-22 25-9 5-14 29-25 6-9 25-22 9-13 24-20 (Anderson played the difficult 22-18? 1-5 in game #3, and lost) 11-15 19-16? (In game #9, Anderson improved with 32-27, now the standard move) 12-19 23-16 15-19 (Or 1-6 RW, Kear's Encyclopedia) 22-18 14-23 31-27 4-8 27-18 8-11 18-14 10-17 21-14 11-15 26-22 15-18

After regaining the piece, Red can destroy White's back row. After that, White hurries to king a piece, then tries to get it out of the way, so he can king a second piece. Back to the game:

22-15 7-10 14-7 2-18 16-11 18-22 20-16 22-26 30-23 19-26 16-12 26-30 11-8 30-26 8-4 26-23 4-8 13-17 8-11 17-22 11-16 22-26 (at least one archive on the Internet gives this as 23-26, which is a typo) 28-24 26-31 16-20 RW (White resigns) [diagram]

Let's try to figure out why White resigned. We continue from the diagram: 23-18 24-19(A) 1-6 19-16 18-15 32-27 (20-24 6-10 24-28 3-7 28-24 15-11 24-20 31-26 32-27 10-15 RW) 31-24 20-27 6-10 27-24 3-7 RW (White wins a piece).

A - White tries to gain a king. If White just waits, instead, the ending is fairly easy, but longer: 20-16 1-6 16-19 6-10 24-20 18-15 19-24 15-11 24-19 10-14 19-16 11-15 32-27 31-24 16-19 15-11 19-28 14-18 28-24 18-23 24-19 23-27 19-24 27-32 24-28 32-27 28-24 27-23 24-28 23-19 28-32 3-7 (White gains another king) RW.

Return to my Checkers pages
Go to my home page