Teacher releases new book - and meets publisher for first time after 25 years

He has also got to meet his publisher for the first time in person after collaborating with him for 25 years. Richard Pask, 63, a primary school teacher at St Augustine's Primary Academy, and former English draughts champion and Grandmaster, has released a new version of his 2017 book Complete Checkers , titled Complete Checkers: Insights. The book has taken on the American named version of the game as the publisher is American.

The aim of the new edition, which has also been published in hardback for the first time aims to make a true version of the game available to a worldwide audience. a copy of Richard's new revised hardback book (Image: Richard Pask) Mr Pask said: "For myself, it represents almost 50 years of work, against which my primary school teaching career and academic studies pale into insignificance. Needless to say, I have barely scratched the surface of this great game.



"It is a new edition of an existing work. Not only has it been revised and improved in many subtle ways, but it is being issued in hardback and, judging from the proof copy, will be very elegant in appearance. The joint hope of both Bob Newell (the publisher) and myself is that it will be accepted by the American library system as one of the definitive works on checkers/draughts.

" The new edition is the culmination of 10,000 hours of work consists of 500 column pages, 366 lesson and 1024 diagrams and brings out the games myriad of strategies, tactics and beauty. Doa and Bob Newell with Richard (right) at Weymouth train station (Image: Richard Pask) In preparation for the the final release of the new edition, Mr Pask also met with his publisher, Bob and his wife Doa who travelled to Weymouth from Honolulu, Hawaii. The pair have collaborated for 25 years via the internet but this was the first time they met in person to go over the final touches of the book.

Bob and Doa were full of praise for their time on the Jurassic Coast, something Richard was keen to share. He said: "Both Bob and Dao absolutely loved the local area, and came away with very high opinions of The Turk's Head where we had an evening meal and The Lugger Inn where they stayed the night. "We also had coffee at the Portland Heights Hotel and admired the amazing view and finally, we enjoyed a delicious crab salad at the Lobster Pot at Portland Bill.

"Showing visitors around reminded me of what an incredibly beautiful place we live in." Mr Pask is now working on a follow up hardback, Complete Checkers: Repertoire, which is aimed at masters and grandmasters and should be out by the end of the year. Complete Checkers: Insights is now available on Amazon in hardback.

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