Cool Stuff About Checkers

[liam stephens]

Here's a few for starters:


Chess, as a showy game may claim the sway.
But Draughts, for depth, will bear the palm away;
Chess can be played by Philidors, though blind;
Our game requires both sight and thoughtful mind.

- Drummond : his 2nd Edition, 1851.

“It was Pillsbury’s practice in blindfold games to play by the numbers. For example, instead of saying ‘If I go here, he will go there; then I go here, he goes there’ and so on, he thought of the numbers of the squares. … Mentally articulating the numbers aids the visualising faculty.”

- Vocabulary of Checkers, 1909.

“If he goes there, I go here; then he goes there and I go here ; but then he goes there, and I go mad”

- Anon.


A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure – critics all are ready-made.

- Byron.

“It should hardly be thought necessary to remind players, who are conscious themselves of not rising above mediocrity, that in many games there may be moves, the scope and tendency of which they do not understand, and the merits of which they cannot appreciate at first sight.”

- Anderson : in his 2nd Edition, 1852.


“The end of the Age of Giants – professionals stalking the land, closely guarded by their patrons and backers, looking for prey – coincided with two trends, which appeared on the scene virtually simultaneously and were to become almost inextricably intertwined. I mean the rise of Amateurism and the forming of National Organisations for the promoting of the game.”

- Oldbury : in his Encyclopaedia of Draughts, 1978.

[jaguar72]

Are there any quotes about checkers that stick with you, or facts that strike you as interesting or important?

John

I think this, maybe, cuts to the heart of the matter:

"The public perception of checkers is that it is a game for children and old men. This is unfortunate; the game deserves to be more popular than it is... . [It] has a beauty all its own, requiring a more delicate touch than does chess and a subtlety of play that rivals go. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the rules is often misconstrued. In fact, it is this simplicity that enhances the elegance of the game."

Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer
author of One Jump Ahead: Computer
Perfection in Checkers and father of
Chinook

(Quoted by Richard Pask in his terrific book Starting Out in Checkers, page 7).

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Are there any quotes about checkers that stick with you

"There is always something around the corner in game of Draughts !"

"There is only one way to prove pudding - eat it !"

"Checkers is combination of art, sport and science."

[jaguar72]

Are there any quotes about checkers that stick with you, or facts that strike you as interesting or important?

John

On chess versus checkers, the terrible risk of personal injury:

"The most common injury in chess: getting your king stuck in your eye when you doze off (Checkers is much safer)."

Jim Loy from Jim Loy's Chess Page at
http://www.jimloy.com/chess/chess.htm

True, too.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[tommyc]

How about..............Right piece wrong square!!

[tommyc]

OR...........You can tell the popularity of a game by how much people invest ($)in it?

[jaguar72]

John and anyone else who is interested in such things,

In a seminal and quite famous work of American fiction, there are three lovely, short, metaphorical references to checkers as part of the story. Although I doubt if you can use them (without gaining permission) in your tri-fold because of copyright laws, they are worth knowing about; even though they are only a sentence or two each, I won't quote them here for the same copyright reasons (the "fair use" provision of US copyright laws is still, for me, pretty murky and I have no desire to test it...).

It's obvious from the checkers references in the book that the author was either a player (probably) or at least familiar enough with the game to use it naturally and very effectively to make a larger point.

Anybody want to take a guess on the name/author of the book? It's worth reading for a lot of reasons other than checkers.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Danny_Alvarez]

i am interested in the answer but my literary knowledge although i am an avid reader, is not vast.

who is it, and what books ?

cheers
D.Alvarez

[jaguar72]

i am interested in the answer but my literary knowledge although i am an avid reader, is not vast.

who is it, and what books ?

cheers
D.Alvarez

It rather surprised me that nobody responded to the question after I originally posted it.

Anyhow, the book is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee which was published exactly fifty years ago. It is obvious from the references that both Miss Lee and her father, upon whom, as I'm sure you know, the major characters in the book are based, were probably both checkers players.

The three allusions are quite short but are an integral part of the story...I would rather not quote them in this public forum because of the copyright issues, but can send them to you via pm if you wish or you can find them yourself. If you have not already read the book you really should.

Thanks for asking, Mr. Alvarez...much appreciated.

BTW, not a good end of season race, alas, for Mark Webber.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72