One time during Chanuka he suddenly entered his beit medrash where there were a number of people sitting playing checkers. When they noticed that their rebbe was standing over them they became very afraid. He spoke to them: “Do you know the rules of checkers?” They were all quiet. He said, “I’ll tell you the rules of checkers:

1. You give up one in order to get two;
2. You can go only two in one turn, but no more;
3. You go forward but you cannot go backwards;
4. When you get to where you want to be (the end of the checker board), you can go wherever you want.

(Ta’amei Haminhagim, Chanuka, p. 367)