BRITISH OPEN INVERNESS SCOTLAND

[william]

To my mind its a endemic lack of structure in checkers and checker federations. My 7yr old twin grand-daughters football team even have a coach ,so checkers way far behind in even the basic structures and its not just now sure its always been that way

I would agree totally with you there!!

here is the position ; there are a handful of determined players , who study day in day out in a very professional way , and consider themselves ( and quite rightly so too ) to be professionals; only to be let down by amaturish organisation .

I am not blaming anyone , as you say it's always been that way ( and not only in our sport ) , and being beggars not choosers , we are always delighted to attend a ty. no matter how it has been thrown together .

[Lindus Edwards]

Hi William,

If a dummy player like me can score a high number of points in a major championship then this is a sure sign that the standard of play has dropped dramatically in the past several years.

I am not, for one moment, suggesting that this is the case so far as the British Open is concerned as there are a number of excellent players in this event who are vastly superior to me. With Shane, Tom Watson, Myles Hannigan and Tom Kee, to mention just four powerful players, this is a tough event indeed.

As I said before, I am just a “plastic pusher” who never considered himself as a “checker player” as such, but one who merely accompanied his father to many tournaments over a period of about twenty-five years.

Speaking of my late father, he won the Scottish Open with 34 points at a time when John McGill, Tom Watson, Jimmy Grant, James Marshall, Tom Landry and a number of other players of grandmaster standard played in the event!

Incidentally, Graham Davies scored 15 wins and no losses in the British Open of 1972.

Such a pity that you could not make it to the British Open William as it really would have been a clash of the giants.

I sincerely hope you will be able to play in the world three-move qualifying tournament in Dublin this year. I will be there as a spectator, hoping to improve by watching grandmasters such as yourself. I enjoy learning and always have for checkers is a game which has intrigued me greatly over the years.


Best wishes,

Lindus.

[william]

Hi Lindus

Nice to hear from you again .

WOW!! Thanks for those interesting results!! I was unaware that this sort of thing had already happened!! And of course with no direspect to anyone , the tuffies in those days were hard to hammer!!

Lindus , you are a much better player than you believe , you can't fool us all LOL

As I said before Lindus I am out of the game since december and will be back in just before the olympic games in London where i hope to represent my country ( although i haven't chosen which obne yet LOL)

See you soon though

William

[Lindus Edwards]

Hi William,

That is what I call an expeditious reply! It certainly will be great to see you again but, as you will immediately perceive, the years have taken their toll upon me as I am an old, frail man now, barely able to push the plastic across the board. I am hopeful you will take this into consideration when we do eventually meet across the board

Take good care,


Lindus.

[john reade]

Anybody got any results from the British Open?

[Lindus Edwards]

Tommy will be back from the pub soon John and will provide the information you are seeking

[tommyc]

Not much coming out yet John, altho i was talking to Shane at dinner time :he d agreed to draws with Bern Coll,thats all the info i have to date.I think Myles was in 2nd place (on 20 pts)at that time but no scores.

[tommyc]

Hi Billy.....i dindnt know Alex had 7 yr old grand-daughters LOL....

As for structures......Whichever one it was Tenzing or Hillary that reached the summit of Everest 1st (prob Tenzing) i dont think they wouldve done on their own,so there would have to be structures in place to achieve that ...........like any other sport ,unfort we dont have that so it auguars badly for the future.Without the building bricks its impossible.

[tommyc]

Day5 of 5.....round 9and 10 of 10

Shane Mc Cosker(29) 2-2 Bern Coll (agreed)
Mc Cosker(32) 3-1 Sean Phillips
Shane wins the British Open Shield 2010

Final Standings
1)Shane Mc Cosker 32 pts
2)Myles Hannigan 24 on HPS
3)Tom Watson 24
4)Danny Oliphant
5)Bernard Coll
6)Charlie Mc Kenna


Senior Section was won by Lamont Inkster(Scot)



Well done Shane congratulations.

[william]

Congrats to Shane for an oustanding ,but expected victory

Nice to see myles in second place , he deserves it , and i also like the guy too

I'm sad for Tommy , but he has done great things in the past , and his advantage ( like Alex's) over us all is that he has something to look back on ! and all the hard work has been done.

I am surprised to see Danny Oliphant on 4th , but this means that he has had his books out , well done danny

And most importantly , Thanks to the organisers , without whom there would never be any ty's at all

William

[tommyc]

Lindus would you know who was the youngest player to win the British Open??

[tommyc]

Thats true William these Tys dont run themselves.......i suppose yull be getting in shape for next yrs British ,seeing as you wont be in Dublin????

[tommyc]

I'm sad for Tommy , but he has done great things in the past , and his advantage ( like Alex's) over us all is that he has something to look back on ! and all the hard work has been done.............William!

That sorta begs the question where do old champions go,(interesting) do they roll over ,or look back or come out fighting??

I know i was talking to Tom Watson at the Northern Ireland Open a few mths a go and he was saying that he hadnt really been playing much on regular basis.Now that he is retired from work he can do things now that he may nota been able to before,so i hope he does that and keeps playing.Well the fact that he bought one a my Basic Checkers might be a clue that he will.

[Ingo_Zachos]

Congratulation to my friend Shane.

He is a true grandmaster,
And he may be the youngest, but not the weakest.

Also congratulations and greetinx to my friends and frequent guests Bernard and Danny.
I know they are good players and connoisseurs of the highest rank.

It is impossible to compare the points and results to that of previous winners.
There are too many different conditions like the competition format, time rates, who attendended and how much and what openings were balloted to the player.

It is like apples and oranges.

But we can say that this apple must have tasted sweet to Shane, but he fully deserves it.


Greetinx from sunny continental Europe,

Ingo Zachos

[john reade]

John,

Why don't you come to the Welsh Open? (18/19 September)

John.