German Open 2018

[Igor]

My trip to the Checkers German Championship from 25 to 27 May 2018 in Korbach was an important cultural and sport event. Unfortunately, my wife Nadja did not want to go with me. Nadja is my muse, she always inspires me to great feats but never lets me make them.

Korbach is a small pretty town in the heart of Germany. The important trade ways passed through in the Middle Ages and it played a serious political role in thoses times. Now it is known thanks to the major German company Continental which produces tires for cars.

[Igor]

Just at this time the Days of Hessen took place. It is a grand feast for the whole state. More than one million guests-tourists arrived here for the days of the festival. The special 3 km long street was built there with a lot of pavilions and information stands representing various firms and organisations — police, military, cookery, music concerts and others — all the city was looking irregular. I had came there a day earlier to witness such an event. Because of my curiosity I pryed everywhere, walked around, watched, collected souvenirs and spoke to representatives as well as with visitors of the exibitions. Everywhere it was possible to try and to participate in various actions. I learned a lot of interesting things from quite different areas: about endangered bees which lose their orientation due to poisoning with pesticides; about the new breeds of cows; what blind people see; how gold was got and washed in mines; I ground Mediterranean salt for myself and mixed it with different herbs according to the ancient recipe; I took my photo against the background of the football stadium; watched the shearing of sheep; I learned Cristiano Ronaldo takes herbalife; I communicated with Jehovah's Witnesses; and I drove a bike of new construction worth 3000 Euros. At a demonstration and tasting of grandmother's culinary recipes I even got into the local TV shot. The entrance tickets to the huge Continental arena where well-known music rock bands from all over the World performed their concerts in the evenings and all night long cost rather a lot — 68 Euros. I am not a big enough expert or fan of rock to pay so much money. From outside the arena one could listen and observe the concerts free of charge and quietly on a big screen, located high inside the arena no worse than from within and at the same time keep one's own eardrums.

[Igor]

However, most of all I liked the Klangkirche — this is the evangelic church where the video-sound system was installed. You could, lying on mattrasses, relax and listen to the fragments of bible texts accompanied by the splash of waves, singing of birds and various noises there and at the same time to watch how the color of the church was changed. I came here every day and enjoyed it for a long time, I brought my Checkers friends here as well. Nowadays the church has to modernize to attract the attention of the people.

[Igor]

I was for 5 years in a row the Checkers champion of Germany but this time I disappointed my fans. I hope that all of them won't stop greeting and welcoming me as before. I am not a VIP any more (Very Important Person) as I won only the second place. By the way, the Checkers German Open was included into the program of cultural and sport events of Hessen Days in Korbach. This year a strong Scottish grandmaster William Docherty came to our Open tournament and took my title away from me. I didn't manage to use all my chances. I won our first game against him but lost the second one. After that he won all other games and I didn't succeed. Life's not all beer and skittles. Jan Zioltkowsky from Korbach took the third place. I agreed to play a friendly training match with William in August if he finds time, then we’ll sort out our relationship. Unfortunately, other Scottish players who previously expressed a desire to come did not arrive at our German Open; as well as Israeli whom I invited and also Ukrainians who preferred to participate in the Italian Open at the beginning of May. It's a pity, they all missed an extremely interesting event.

[Igor]

All results and the cross-table you can find on my Checkers site: http://www.checkers64.de/
I’d like to present to ACF-readers the most interesting moments from my games, where I lost points.

William Docherty – Igor Martynov

1. 10-14 23-19 2. 11-16 27-23 3. 16-20 32-27 4. 8-11 19-16 5. 12x19 24x8 6. 4x11 23-19 7. 6-10 19-16 8. 9-13 22-17 9. 13x22 25x9 10. 5x14 29-25 11. 11-15 25-22 12. 2-6 (A) 22-17 13. 14-18 30-25 (B)14. 15-19 17-14 15. 10x17 21x14 16. 20-24 27x20 17. 18-23 26-22 18. 7-11 16x7 19. 3x26 31x22 20. 23-26 25-21 21. 26-30 22-18 (C) 22. 30-26 18-15 23. 26-23 20-16 24. 6-10 15x6 25. 1x10 21-17 26. 23-18 16-12 27. 18-15 12-8 28. 10-14 17x10 29. 15x6 1 - 0
A) I waited: 12. 1-6 22-17 13. 06-09 17-13 14. 15-18 13x06 15. 02x09 30-25 16. 09-13 26-22 17.10-15 28-24 18. 14-17 21x14 19. 13-17 22x13 20. 07-11 – well-known draw
B) it does not lose but White makes problems for itself; another moves 13. … 17-13, 13. … 17-14 or 13. … 16-12 are much easier for them. I did not see the pitch: 16. 20-24 – etc.
C) decisive mistake, which allows movement of the Black King: 30-26-23. After 21. … 20-16 – Black cannot win

[Igor]

Thomas Juergens – Igor Martynov

1. 11-15 24-20 2. 9-14 22-18 3. 15x22 25x9 4. 5x14 29-25 5. 12-16 20x11 6. 8x15 25-22 7. 7-11 28-24 8. 4-8 24-20 9. 8-12 20-16 10. 12x19 23x7 11. 2x11 26-23 12. 3-8 (A) 22-17 13. 15-18 17-13 14. 18-22 23-18 15. 14x23 27x18 16. 1-5 18-14 (B) 17. 10x17 21x14 18. 11-16 31-27 19. 16-20 (C) 27-23 20. 8-11 23-19 21. 20-24 14-10 22. 6x15 19x10 23. 11-15 10-7 24. 15-18 7-2 25. 18-23 2-7 26. 22-26 7-10 27. 26-31 10-14 28. 31-26 13-9 29. 24-27 9-6 30. 26-22 6-2 31. 27-31 - draw
A) loses, correct: 12. 6-9 – etc.
B) misses a win: 16. ... 32-27 17. 5-9 21-17 18. 11-16 27-24 19. 8-11 31-27 20. 10-15 24-20 21. 16-19 17-14 – etc.
C) 19. 8-11 – loses after: 19. … 30-26 – etc.

[williamdocherty]

Thank you for sharing these memories Igor : The church atmosphere with the bead bags was amazing!! I think w e both slept for about 30 minutes...

To play checkers you need to be crazy...On the Friday, day before the championship I had both eyes operated by laser surgery. I had a sleep in the afternoon and then did a 8 hour drive to Korbach!! I wasn't really seeing clearly as usual, but enough to avoid oncoming traffic !! I had drops to kill the pain, but needed sunglasses all the way and even during the games to avoid discomfort!

Sometimes the effort is worth it all, and I was rewarded with some interesting games and the German Championship.

Thanks again to all the organisers, and see you again next year!!

Oh!! Just for the curious : Igor informed us that he won the first game from me...I did indeed blunder up this known position to me, and the worst of it all is that I cannot explain my move...here is the game for some laughs
10-14 23-19 11-16 19-15 16-20 24-19 7-10 22-17 9-13 27-23 13x22 25x9 5x14 29-25 32-27 ( mixing it 31-27 is also played here) 7-11 28-24???? 11x18 21-17 white after the cuts is a man down...


See you all in Vegas!!

[clintolsen]

I see the round robin results, but did anyone keep track of round-by-round results for this event? The order that games are played does have a minor impact on ratings.

Edit: Nevermind, i found it...

[Igor]

http://www.dame-online.de/

[chipschap]

Thank you for this link as I had been wondering where the German checker site had gone, as the GDA site has been discontinued for quite a long while. Although when it comes to German-language games I mostly play Skat