Checkmate

Rabbi Yehudah Cooperman the founder of Michlala related the following story:

When he was in Gateshead Yeshiva the Gaon and Tzaddik Rav Leib Lopian used to give a Thursday night shiur in gemara. One time one of the boys asked a strong question on the Rebbe from a Tosphos. R' Leib went throught the Shas in his head and tried to find a resolution to the question. He smoked cigarette after cigarette [then it was not known how detrimental smoking is to one's health] and sat deep in thought. There was silence in the room as the clock advanced 11:00 - 11:30 - 12:00 - 12:30. Then R' Leib rose and said in English [the shiur was in Yiddish]: "Checkmate".

It is clear that R' Leib could have offered many different answers that would have satisfied the student but he only wanted an answer that he himself was happy with. If the transmitters of our tradition are endowed with such intellectual honesty then we can trust that our tradition is trustworthy.