I have renewed my acquaintance with checkers in the last 2 weeks. I find checkers much more a real exercise in logic than chess. The moves of a binary nature right or left duplicate the logic gates that go into all arithmetic operations of computers. The rules are very simple and thus correspond with extensions to all binary decisions in life. We all know that Tom Wiswell has written 5,000 proverbs covering the relations of checkers to life and they are invaluable and worth an extensive publication and study. However, what I have learned is quite rudimentary and not for all posterity like Tom’s. Briefly, here are some lessons:

1. Prepare before you play

2. Don’t move in haste

3. Play only certain lines and leave off playing when you don’t know

4. There is high frequency playing in checkers same way there is in our our markets. Don’t play against the high frequency but play for the 30 minutes games/ the high freq people have better equipment that you can’t compete against

5. Only play lines that you know and don’t wing it

6. Write your major plays down before hand and play them only

7. There are some players much better than you. Don’t compete with them

8. Your wins and losses tend to form clusters, i.e longer runs than expected. So don’t play after two losses in a row 8. Exercise before you play for at least 10 minutes

9. Study the play that was good 100 years ago and use it

10. Don’t do things by rote as things are always changing and your opp

11. The play in the morning is very different from the play in the afternoon. The players are different. I find checkers a good antidote to loss of memory and a good hobby which for me is resonant as my father played much with 10 Scotties and it brings back the glory days with my dad and Tom. Hobby for the old age.