2013 US National 11-man Ballot

[Danny_Alvarez]

Irma , relax my friend....
whilst i see your point.... i also think that it was a joke from Alex and it should be taken in the spirit it was meant.
I personally think it does not deter from the family nature of this site..... (then again my kids are not old enough to be here....yet)

Joe I congratulate you on saving towards home ownership...it is great to see young people that are mature and balanced.
Keep at it mate, you will have plenty of time to play and win checker tournaments after you got yourself a home.

cheers and good luck to everyone with their plans for this tournament.
Danny

[Irma Sierra]

I know it was a joke...and still the link was posted, cant Alex Holmes get in here? cant other kids be reading the forum as guests? So Danny if it doesnt affect you direclty is ok???? It doesnt affect me either, so, be it, moral and values to hell.....

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Well ... I deleted controversary link. It didn't contain any images - only list with phone numbers and addresses. Now neither Alex Holmes nor other kids who visit this site have a chance to see this information.

I remember one time when my daughter was 6 years old, she returned from school and brought the list with "bad words". Teacher gave this list to all students (boys and girls), asked kids to learn these words and never ever use them in their life ! I still keep this list which I use for references, because with my broken English and light vocabulary there are quite few words I don't know.

In USA this business is legal for everyone older than 21 years old. So ... even if some kid read this link and (of course!) immediately try to call and arrange visit - noone will speak with him or her.

Alex

[Irma Sierra]

Good you deleted the link Alex because is not about what u can do when u are kid and not what u can do when u are 21....is about what their inocent eyes see, and their ears hear...we have to be very carefull with that.....(no matter if they cant get an appointment)

[Eric Strange]

Well,

Got my flight, hotel room, and rent-a-car. So unless something very dramatic happens, I will be making this tournament.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

I also got reservation today in the nearest to Libby Hill Days Inn. They have discount 20% if you make reservation 7 days in advance. 3 nights cost me $145.75 and distance from restaurant is approximately 10 minutes driving.

Not a bad deal though.

Hope to see all of you there and ... many thatnks to organisers for birthday cake. I can't miss a party !

I also personally invite and challenge everyone who thinks they are good in crossaboard, to come and play this fantastic style.

Mister Alex

[Chexhero]

I won't be there, but look forward to a hopeful Alex-Eric matchup!

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Alex-Eric matchup!

Which Alex ? If I am not mistaken - we should have two Alex's in Greensboro

[Eric Strange]

I'm down to play both Alex's

I have never played an 11-man game in my life, so this should be a lot of fun for me. Hopefully my crossboard is enough to compete at the top level.

[Michael Holmes]

Yes, Alex Holmes will be there. While I can testify that he continues to get better at checkers every week I can also say that these weekly chess tournaments that we play in are making him better at chess. Of course we study checkers a lot more than we study chess. Chuck chooses two openings and we study it for a week and then play them. Alex's young mind is absorbing a lot of good stuff nowadays.

[Chexhero]

I actually warned Eric to watch out for Alex Holmes and that the kid is no joke. Hopefully he takes my advice

[Bill Salot]

As someone who played his first, and probably his last, 11-man ballot game in last year's tourney, I'm here to say it ain't as easy as I thought going in. Some of those openings proved to be weak for both sides, at least the way I played them! All of the top scores were taken by accomplished book players who probably recognized formational nuances in the wacky positions better than this achiever of the bottom score who never made it to a decent ending.

I do have this suggestion as a quick pre-tournament exercise for your crossboard visualization acuity. Take a look at the 12 problems on the "Beginners' Page" of the current February 2013 issue of the ACF Bulletin.

Yes, they are begiunners' problems, but see if you can solve them all from the diagram in less than a minute, 5 seconds each!

They are all cute, original, seed problems by that master composer, Ed Atkinson. They are not meant to stump you, but they will help you practice quick thinking out of the box. Jim Loy thought they were "pretty good". What say you?

Ed Atkinson's Wi-Fi does not access this Forum, but I'll forward to him any comments you might make. I hope he will make it a series.

[Palomino]

John wrote:

Also, if any non-members would like to look at Ed's beginner problems...

John I understand you speak of non ACF members but consider the non fourm members who can't post and make their wishes to see the problems known and they are maybe the ones most likely to benefit from beginner problems. I just checked and find that I am the only forum member online here and there are 7 guests.

I say go ahead and post the problems, can't hurt and may do some good.

"Pal"

[Eric Strange]

I have a book called "The Little Big Encyclopedia of Checkers Problems" this reminds me of that book. I enjoyed the problems a lot. took me about two minutes to solve them all (got hung up on one one of them). Thanks for that Bill and John

[Bill Salot]

If you enjoyed the beginners' problems that much, how about, before the tournament, sharpening your wits on the man-size problems in Contest #9?

Here is the link: