Welsh Open Results

[Lindus Edwards]

Congratulations to Liam Stephens on winning the Welsh Open Championship without the loss of a single game. This is Liam's first Welsh Open victory and, I am certain, will not be the last
I managed to score the same number of points as Liam and we finished as joint winners of the title, but the fact is that Liam played the better checkers and should have been awarded the title without having to have my name inscribed on the trophy....
I was delighted to see my good friend winning this event. Well done Liam.
I will publish the full results when I receive the crosstables from John Reade who, I must say, performed his duties at this event par excellence. Many thanks John.
Many thanks too to John and Ruth Morgan for putting on a wonderful event and for providing terrific entertainments for the players' benefit on the Saturday night. The little girl who played the harp and sang was absolutely world class.
It was a great pleasure for me to meet Sune Thrane of Denmark who is a fine player and a really nice gentleman.
A lovely weekend of checkers.

[MostFamousDane]

Congratulations to Lindus (and Liam) for winning the Welsh Open with 16 points for 10 games - quite impressive. I had a great time but as usual I was not so happy with my own play - I was in a winning position in 8 of my games and managed to piss away 4 wins (as usual) - oh well at least I didn't finish last for once. Here is an example - not the clearest win but definately the most entertaining way to lose a game.

[Event "Welsh Open 2009"]
[Black "David Williams"]
[White "Sune Thrane"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. 9-14 22-18 2. 5-9 24-19 3. 11-15 18-11 4. 8-15-24 28-19 5. 4-8 25-22 6. 8-11 22-18
7. 11-16 29-25 8. 7-11 18-15 9. 11-18 21-17 10. 14-21 23-14-5 11. 16-23 26-19 12.
2-7 25-22 13. 10-14 30-25 14. 21-30 31-26 15. 30-23-16 1-0

Here is the game i had against Lindus

[Event "Welsh Open 2009"]
[Black "Sune Thrane"]
[White "Lindus Edwards"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. 9-14 22-18 2. 5-9 24-19 3. 11-15 18-11 4. 8-15-24 28-19 5. 4-8 26-22 6. 8-11 27-24
7. 10-15 19-10 8. 6-15 22-18 9. 15-22 25-18 10. 7-10 24-19 11. 1-5 29-25 12.
9-13 {This is in Kear's guide opening 39, variant 10 but actually loses} 18-9 13. 5-14 25-22 14. 11-15
32-28 {This is the move that is in Kears but it only draws 30-26 wins} 15. 15-24
28-19 16. 3-7 22-18 17. 7-11 18-9 18. 11-15 19-16 19. 12-19-26 30-23 20. 10-14 9-5
21. 15-18 5-1 22. 18-27 31-24 23. 14-18 1-5 24. 18-23 {At this point I was pretty sure I was in a loss but surprisingly 18-22 still
draws here} 5-9 25. 23-27 9-14 26. 27-32 14-18 27. 32-27 24-20 28. 27-24 18-15
29. 24-28 15-19 30. 28-32 20-16 31. 32-28 16-11 32. 28-32 11-8 33. 32-28 8-3 34.
28-32 3-8 0-1

[william]

My heartiest Congrats go to Liam on a fine victory ,

And hard luck to you Lindus , But If your gonna be second then do it with 1 point less than the winner , it doesn't hurt so much then , Better luck next time my friend .

[liam stephens]

Thank you William, but Lindus is being far too modest.
In fact he had higher Honour Points, but graciously insisted they be disregarded and that we shared the Championship. We both finished on 16 game points.

Regards - Liam.

[kiwinurse]

Warm congratulations to both Lindus and Liam,two very fine people who have contributed much to checkers.What a pity that the fine sportsmanship of both isnt seen in a lot of matches.Checkers would be more participated in if more people subscibed to the ethics of both these men. regards Jan

[Lindus Edwards]

Thank you so much Jan for your kind words which are appreciated so very much. Liam is, and always has been, a fine player, sportsman and player and it was with the greatest pride that I was able to share the title with him. We finished on the same score of 16 points, each with the same number of wins and so we agreed to share the championship. I was so pleased that it ended in such a lovely way.
Thank you too William for your kind words. As I said before, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see you play for the world championship. When I first met you I think you were only fifteen years old, but it was obvious even then that great things were to come your way. The best of luck to you my friend.
Hey Sune, if you had eight winning positions on out of the ten games that was pretty good going and shows you can win the event one day - probably in the not too-distant future
As soon as I have the crosstables I will post it here

[tommyc]

Well done lads Liam and Lindus,gee it must hAVE BEEN AN (L) of a Tournament...............pun pun!!

I d say Liam was just getting some match practise in for the Irish (Monaghan 24 oct) limbering up as they say .
Speaking of matches Shane and Myles 20 game match starts thur week for the Irish 3 mv over 4 sessions!!!

[Lindus Edwards]

Tommy wrote: "I d say Liam was just getting some match practise in for the Irish (Monaghan 24 oct) limbering up as they say ."

Hi Tommy,
If that was Liam just getting a bit of "practice" for the Irish Open and merely "limbering up" then I dread to imagine what he can do when playing seriously!
In point of absolute fact Tommy I find that playing in the Welsh Open, particularly when there is only ten rounds ( one game per round), is much harder than an English Open with twenty games for example. Ten games is just not enough. I am not, for an instant, suggesting that I would have finished ahead of Liam or any of the other players had there been twenty games as I do not rate myself in Liam's class, nor indeed a number of the other players such as Dafydd Roberts (Welsh number one since the passing of my father), Terry Thomas (former Welsh Open Champion), Brian Lucas (English Match Champion), Jim O' Brien, John Jones (Welsh number two player), Frank Bednall (record holder for winning Lancashire Championship over twenty years), Robin Jones (Welsh number three player) and at least another ten players who would take me apart in a match of thirty games.
Liam clearly played the best checkers in this Welsh Open and deserved to win it. It was a great honour for me to finish as co-holder with this great gentleman.
Considering the fact that I do not, and never really have, thought of myself as a serious player and one who merely pushes a bit of plastic I do not think I did too badly in this year's Welsh Open.
The most important thing for me Tommy is sharing the company of players like Liam, yourself, Johnny Preston and others. I delight in the company of you guys as you are great fun to be with - not to mention fine players and sportsmen.
Any hope of you attending next year's event as we would all look forward to seeing you Tommy?
Best wishes always,
Lindus.

[tommyc]

ACH Lindus yur being very polite...lol.
Yes hopefully we can take in the Welsh again nxt time,as you may not know personally i wish it was held in a more easily accessible venue.Knighton is a lovely wee town (sure we had a great time b4 heheh but played little seriuos draughts we had such a good time) but for us travelliing to it was pretty difficult.I know its John Morgans
neck of the woods and he runs it well,that is just my personal view,so lets hope for nxt year Lindus.
Sad news this week of the death of fellow clubman Danny Doherty Chairman of the Inishowen club at just mid 50s id say. He did alot of sterling work for the club its since inception and organiser of the Irish Open in 2007.RI.P.

[Lindus Edwards]

Hi Tommy,
I appreciate your comments on Knighton as it is not the most accessible of places. I was saddened to learn of the passing of Danny Doherty. Although I never met him I am aware of the fine work he did. My deepest sympathy to his family.
Best wishes,
Lindus.

[liam stephens]

At the prize presentation ceremony in Knighton, Lindus in a very magnanimous gesture proposed that the we share the 2009 Welsh Open Championship Title, as we had finished level on points, even though he had achieved higher honour points. However, I am advised by John Reade, the referee and controller of the Welsh Open Championship that:

“ The official result is that Lindus is first and you are 2nd .”

Accordingly, I am pleased to acclaim my good friend Lindus Edwards as the sole and undisputed winner of the 2009 Welsh Open Draughts Championship.

The full crosstable is shown under the Checker Sharing section of the Forum.

[Lindus Edwards]

Hi Liam,

I am naturally very upset over this whole affair and feel that an injustice has been served upon us both. Our wish to share the title, which I felt was right and proper, was not respected and consequently you have taken the only course of action available to you.

You are a person of honour, decency and of the highest integrity and you will always have my respect in these regards, coupled with my high opinion of you as a person and as a player.

My decision to share the title, which I always will feel was right, was viewed as wrong and consequently I have no option other than to withdraw from competitive play.

In the light of this matter I feel that I cannot continue to play in live tournaments again as it is now overwhelmingly evident that I am not respected one iota by certain officials in a game I once enjoyed.

Your friend always,


Lindus Edwards.

[Mac Banks]

I am puzzled by the referee's decision to over throw a decision by Lindus to allow Liam to
share as a co-winner of the Welsh Open. Both Lindus and Liam had 16 points and were
separated by only one honor point. With only a few players in the tourney, anyone with
any common sense would understand that deciding a winner on honor points is not a fair
system and both Lindus and Liam deserved to be co-champions. Lindus, being the fair
minded gentleman that he is, realized that Liam played as good as he did and it would
not be fair to deprive Liam a chance to share the title. With Lindus agreeing to share
the title, it seems so odd to me that the referee would even consider going against Lindus's
wishes. Both Lindus Edwards and Liam Stephens are great ambassadors of our game and
are two of the most polite and kindest checker players I have known during my 60
years of playing the game. I guess the referee doesn't understand that people are the
most important thing in checkers not the game itself. I also had a rule of thumb that I
lived by, " I would rather lose a checker game than lose a checker friend". It is so easy to
play another game of checkers but it is not easy to find another checker friend. The
Welsh Open has now lost a checker friend and it will be impossible to replace Lindus. The
referee's decision to make a ruling that was unecessary, has caused much damage to the
game. I would hope that the referee send both Lindus and Liam a letter of apology and
reverse his decision to rule that Liam did not share the Welsh OPen championship.
All the best,
Mac Banks

[Palomino]

Mac Banks wrote:

...people are the most important thing in checkers not the game itself. ...I would rather lose a checker game than lose a checker friend. It is so easy to play another game of checkers but it is not easy to find another checker friend.

Mac, those are great ideas, nothing posted here has every rang truer to my ears. We can file that under words of wisdom we should all live by.

I also believe Lindus' decision to share the title should have been honored.

Regards, "Pal" Bucker

[tommyc]

"I would rather lose a checker game than lose a checker friend"..........MACB

Words of wisdom indeed from World Champion Banks.This brings the WCDF and referee John Reade into disrepute once more,im sure there is a WCDF rule for this but bad rules that dont have the "power of the people "is surely just that and must be scrapped ,as Myles Hannigan might SAY a rule "fresh from the midden".On a personal note Reade fresh from his disaster in the Isle of Wight QT has heaped more scorn on himself in his ability as a referee and a human being.As Banks said its people who make this game clock tick not silly stupid unworkable rule books.

REINSTATE THE CO-CHAMPIONS!!! OR HAS COURTESY AND COMMON SENSE GONE OUT THE WINDOW.