Online checkers library.

[George Hay]

The WCDF site also has a pdn file for the 2013 WCM.

http://www.wcdf.net/forum.htm

[tgf]

Great help George, the games are now in!

[George Hay]

Wow! I get it now, just click on the underlined year to get the animated match games!
That is very impressive, and a great resource!
--George Hay

[tgf]

I like the compact design, you will see similar "number only" links throughout the site.
Also clicking on pictures often opens a larger or different picture/link.
It is hard to count, I think there are more than 1,500 games in there

[tgf]

I put the numbers in Excel, the estimate was close, there are currently 1771 games in 54 matches.
With that I pretty much exhausted my Straight Checkers material.

Hope players will find this type of clear and easy to access organization appealing and will want to help the library grow, scanning books or enhancing existing scans.
With internet, printing books is a slow and expensive proposition, some authors publish their works directly in the library, one of the benefits is that one can always add or modify on line. PDF books also appeal to younger generations.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Do you have on your list my 3-moves match with E. Lowder in 2002 which is also must be consider as title match ? If not - I can send you games.

[tgf]

Yes, Alex - your 2002 match is there.
Is there a way to flip this thread so the newest posts are on the top?
Incidentally, the library is also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/checkersusa/

[tgf]

Interestingly the library contains a book http://checkersusa.com/books/straight/L ... s_1914.pdf about 1914 World Match but there is no mention of the 1914 match in the Match Games list. Actually there are two more books describing another 1914 match, plus a book on the 1913 match. We do need a good checkers historian to research and set things right!

[tgf]

According to the books (and they contain such details as contracts, games and scores) Melvin Pomeroy won the 1913 match against then World champion Alfred Jordan and the next year defended his title against the same opponent. I have these games in Aurora database.

[George Hay]

The revival of GAYP World Checkers Championships may be traced back to 1913. Melvin Pomeroy challenged and beat two-move restriction world champion Alfred Jordan in a GAYP match in 1913. The GAYP rematch in 1914 billed Pomeroy as world champion by virtue of the 1913 match. Pomeroy defeated A. Jordan in the rematch. The OMOCH Timeline has entries for both matches, but cautions that they were "not widely recognized" as world title matches. The OMOCH Timeline logs the death of Melvin Earl Pomeroy in 1934, and notes that Pomeroy did not defend his title after the 1914 rematch with A. Jordan.

Enter Millard Hopper....In 1951 the first Freestyle, aka Unrestricted, aka Go-As-You-Please, aka GAYP World Championship
sanctioned by the American Checker Federation took place with Millard Hopper as defending champion and Tom Wiswell
as the challenger. Mr. Hopper's claim to the GAYP World Championship is explained in the match book
Checker Kings In Action, pages 19-20:

Not having the time to devote to the new trends of two- and three-move restriction checkers, Hopper specialized in
the "go-as-you-please" game, and in a match of ten games in this style of play meet and defeated Alfred Jordan,
Champion of Great Britain. Later when Melvin Pomeroy died, Hopper claimed his rights to the title of World's
Unrestricted Checker Champion, a claim that was recognized by The American Checker Association (now The American
Checker Federation).

Tom Wiswell won the 1951 match to become GAYP World Champion by a score of 7-2-27, as noted in the OMOCH Timeline.
Checker Kings In Action by Tom Wiswell and Millard Hopper, and the animated games of the match, are in the
Online Checkers Library.

--George Hay

[tgf]

It is fascinating to read all these stories in the online books, so much research can be done with proof but a few clicks away accessible to all.
Mr. Pomeroy did win both matches, they did play for the World Championship title as was proper at the time, never mind what some organization thought of that 40 years later.

[tgf]

Added games from 7 more World title matches

[Jay H]

The revival of GAYP World Checkers Championships may be traced back to 1913. Melvin Pomeroy challenged and beat two-move restriction world champion Alfred Jordan in a GAYP match in 1913. The GAYP rematch in 1914 billed Pomeroy as world champion by virtue of the 1913 match. Pomeroy defeated A. Jordan in the rematch. The OMOCH Timeline has entries for both matches, but cautions that they were "not widely recognized" as world title matches. The OMOCH Timeline logs the death of Melvin Earl Pomeroy in 1934, and notes that Pomeroy did not defend his title after the 1914 rematch with A. Jordan.

Enter Millard Hopper....In 1951 the first Freestyle, aka Unrestricted, aka Go-As-You-Please, aka GAYP World Championship
sanctioned by the American Checker Federation took place with Millard Hopper as defending champion and Tom Wiswell
as the challenger. Mr. Hopper's claim to the GAYP World Championship is explained in the match book
Checker Kings In Action, pages 19-20:

Not having the time to devote to the new trends of two- and three-move restriction checkers, Hopper specialized in
the "go-as-you-please" game, and in a match of ten games in this style of play meet and defeated Alfred Jordan,
Champion of Great Britain. Later when Melvin Pomeroy died, Hopper claimed his rights to the title of World's
Unrestricted Checker Champion, a claim that was recognized by The American Checker Association (now The American
Checker Federation).

Tom Wiswell won the 1951 match to become GAYP World Champion by a score of 7-2-27, as noted in the OMOCH Timeline.
Checker Kings In Action by Tom Wiswell and Millard Hopper, and the animated games of the match, are in the
Online Checkers Library.

--George Hay

Very nice research Mr. Hay,
I might also add that Mr. Pomeroy refused to play the game with any restriction. He was one of America's "Heavyweight" players during the 1890's, but when 2-move began to replace the freestyle method of play, his participation in the game began to drop. In fact, he was considered for a place on the 1905 American Team for the International Match, but was passed because he would not compete in restricted play......
During the time period of the two Jordan-Pomeroy matches, the game was much more popular than now, and had many more master players nationwide, players who studied and competed at a different level than today's players. So much so that GAYP, or "freestyle" was considered by master players as a beginner's introduction to the game, "real players" used restriction. (such as 2-move, the main restriction of the time period)
The press and fraternity never endorsed these matches as World Championship Matches because, quite frankly, nobody cared...it was not taken seriously, as it was perceived that no one playing Freestyle could call themselves World Champion at Checkers, so long as there were The Banks', Jordan's and Stewart's playing 2-move.
Alf Jordan, never one to pass up a chance to make a buck, went along with the motions in these Freestyle WCM's......he was there for the paycheck....
Regards

Jay Hinnershitz

[George Hay]

Jay, that is a good point that "real players" used restriction. I was somewhat shocked to read on page 4 of
The Legendary MFT by Richard Pask that "According to Derek Olbury, privately he had a higher opinion of GAYP than he would admit to in public." He being Dr. Marion F. Tinsley. That book is part of the Richard Pask Page, Courtesy of the Checker Maven, in the Online Checkers Library. Millard Hopper put it best, IMHO, on page 104 of Win At Checkers, "It is interesting to note that the original game of checkers often called go-as-you-please is still the most popular mode of playing checkers, and likewise has its champions."

Also IMHO, Go-As-You-Please Checkers is an evergreen game. Here we are in 2014, one hundred years after the M.E. Pomeroy vs Alfred Jordan rematch, and we have the Ron King vs Sergio Scarpetta rematch to look forward to! Go GAYP!

--George Hay

[tgf]

Ok - it is now close to 150 books. Also added games from 10 more world title matches. Of course games are not literature so their presence in the library questionable.
I notice very few people checking the library out, not a single word from them on the site (few private emails).