3-move ballots, history and critical remarks

[Ingo_Zachos]

Dear checker friends,

today I will do a bit of research and tomorrow I will puiblish a timeline when each of the 156 openings have been introduced, because it is not true that only recently 12 new oppenings have been added.

In fact there were many more openings that were not in the original "deck", but were introduced much later. It was always possible to add new openings.

I also plan to discuss if the deck is fair (i assume it favcors 11-16 and 10-15), and which openings are particulary hard, though I know that already a hard deck exists, which indeed points out that the openings are not of equal value. Some are GAYP, but offer scope, some are more complex then others and some are mixed.

Greetinx from cloudy old Europe,

Ingo

[Alex_Moiseyev]

137-142-144-155-156

Black Hole opening was the last one. It was a small window in 2004-2005 when only 11 new openings were approved.

Not sure if 137 openings deck was original. Anyway - we should go now back to 1920's and start research here.

[George Hay]

Richard Pask in Starting Out In Checkers pointed out that there are 302 possible ways to move the first three moves in checkers. Of the 302 possibilities, 83 are duplicates, and 45 result in the loss of a man. That leaves the 174 three move openings featured in the opening section of the ACF website.
http://www.usacheckers.com/threemoveopeninglist.php

The most comprehensive history of two and three move restrictions that I have found is on this web page:
http://www.quadibloc.com/other/bo010201.htm
This shows the accepted three move restrictions have gone from 138 to 137 to 144 to 156.
The date is not given for the initial 138 ballots.
One ballot was removed in 1937, leaving 137 ballots.
The date for increasing the number of ballots to 144 is not given.
The date for adding the last twelve ballots for the modern 156 ballot deck is 2003.

The ballot removed in 1937 must have been due to Willie Ryan's analysis,
although I have failed to find a reference for this.
10-15, 22-17, 9-14 is still a banned opening!

Yet if we go back to two move restriction, there is another removed
opening that is banned to this day! Of the possible 49 first two moves, 2 lead to the loss of a man,
leaving a ballot of 47 openings. Typically, 4 more openings were removed leaving a ballot of 43 openings.
However, there was some competition using the 47 openings. Of those 47 openings,12-16, 23-19 is still banned.
With only one way to jump, that is virtually the same as the banned three move ballot 12-16, 23-19, 16-23.
--George Hay

[George Hay]

Not to get off topic, but for historical accuracy, the "perfect" game, Wyllie vs Martins 1863, featured in the
above quadibloc webpage is not perfectly rendered! The opening is a transposition from Lees' Guide.
The match was for 50 games (not 40), and the exact same game was played 28 times (not 21).
Fortunately, Jim Loy provides the actual game and setting in More Memorable Checkers Matches.
This is the famous repeat game that started organized checkers on the long road
to three move restriction!
--George Hay

[Alex_Moiseyev]

I can only repeat that in 2003 only 11 openings were approved by ACF and I have at my home official cards deck for 155 openings (31 cards with choices of 5 openings on each card) !

I think it was difference between ACF and EDA who approved 12 new openings at first shot in 2003. This fact needs to be checked but one fact is for sure - for short period of time we used in ACF 155 deck !

Last opening 10-14 22-17 9-13, Black Hole was approved in ACF a bit later in 2004 or 2005. My world title match with Ron King in 2005 was the 1st match where we used 156 deck (in match 2003 we used 144 deck).

I think openings 10-14 23-18 14x23 and 9-14 23-18 14x23 were approved and adopted in ACF in earlier 1980's and this formed 144 deck. Even today after 30 years some old enough ACF players still call these openings "barred"

Somewhere in 2004 I bet with Mr. Hinkle - famous ACF mail player and analyst. He said that 156 is a final number for 3-moves deck and I said - there will be one more change, either add or remove ballot.

It was a failed attempt of Ed Trice and WCC to confirm soundness "Neutron Star" - 11-15 21-17 10-14. Marion Tinsley also beleived that 9-14 23-18 14x23 is much more danger than it looks like.

Mail players several times tried in tournaments to prove sondness of Rattlesnake 9-14 23-19 10-15 and only in nowdays with programs it was proved that this is opening is a scientific loss.

For me personally 11-15 23-19 8-11 ballot is the most danger opening I can ever imagine !

Respectfully,

A. Moiseyev

[rich beckwith]

My recollection (of when I started out in the 1980’s) was 142 openings played on cards with 6 openings per card. (Some cards had only 5 openings). One card was labeled “NEW” and included 10-14 22-18 7-10; 10-14 23-19 7-10; 11-16 24-20 7-11; 10-14 22-18 12-16; 10-14 23-19 6-10. These are likely #138-#142, in order of entry. I’m not sure when they were implemented. Basic Checkers started coming out in 1978 and already included them, as well as the final two openings in anticipation of future adoption.

ACFB #210 (Dec. 1987) announced experimental approval of the following 4 openings for MAIL play: 9-13 23-19 10-15; 9-13 22-18 11-16; 11-15 22-17 10-14; 11-16 22-17 9-13. (Some “Wilderness” history.)

June 1989 bulletin: Ian Caws announces 142 openings, as used by ACF, will be played in 5th I.M.

I’m having trouble finding when the final two openings were adopted –likely within the next 4 or 5 years. I recall we were asked to write these two new openings [9-13 24-19 10-14; 10-14 23-19 11-15] on our two 3-move cards that had only 5 openings. I still have my cards.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

I recall we were asked to write these two new openings [9-13 24-19 10-14; 10-14 23-19 11-15] on our two 3-move cards that had only 5 openings. I still have my cards.

Very interesting. 9-13 24-19 10-14 leads to classic Paxton Defense which was well known back to 40's-50's. And it became as part of official deck only at the end of 1980's ?! WOW

[George Hay]

Why is the opening 11-15 24-20 15-19 missing from the full list of 174 three move openings?
--George Hay

[Ingo_Zachos]

Why is the opening 11-15 24-20 15-19 missing from the full list of 174 three move openings?
--George Hay

Because it is number 159: 1. 11-16 24-20, 2. 15-19 , transposition, if u refer to Brian Hinkle`s list.
BTW: looks like the card decks in the USA and in Britain and Ireland are not always using the same move order, though still reaching the same 156 postions.

Thx for the input on the history behind the deck. Did some research, but haven`t finished yet. Seems like one opening was banned, but many others added over the decades, as already mentioned above.
So the argument that it was only once changed is clearly wrong. And it had been designed to be open for change.

Greetinx from Dortmund,

Ingo Zachos

[liam stephens]

There is a useful historical summary by Richard Fortman on the final page of Part 1 of Basic Checkers.
Also, he commented, in Part 3 of BC, on the likely adoption of 10-14, 23-19, 11-15 for the 1982 US Nat Ty.

[Ingo_Zachos]

Thx, Liam.

It seems that 1929 the following masters were appointed to explore the possibility of a 3-move deck:

A.J. Heffner
L.C. Ginsberg
J.F. Horr
A. Long
H.B. Reynolds

they approved 150 openings, but 12 were not included in the 1st deck 1933.

In 1936 1. 10-15 22-17, 2. 9-14 (The Nutcracker) was barred. It remained barred until today.

For more then 30 years 137 openings were played. Meanwhile 3-move was now established in Britain and Ireland.

In 1970 the following five were approved:

1. 10-14 23-19, 2.7-10 ("Diabollical Denny")
1. 10-14 23-19, 2.6-10
1. 10-14 22-18, 2. 12-16 ("White Doctor")
1. 10-14 22-18, 2. 7-10 ("Fraser`s Inferno")
1- 11-16 24-20, 2. 7-11

And the deck contained 142 openings.

In 1982 the following openings were approved at the US Nationals:

1. 9-13 24-19 10-14
1. 10-14 23-19 11-15 ("The Virginia")


And back in 2005 finally the new 12 openings have been approved, with

1.10-14 22-17, 2. 9-13 ("The Black Widow") obviously approved at the last moment.

So today the deck contains 156 openings.

The basis to include an opening is not that it offers equal chances to both sides, but that the weaker side may draw it with best play, which means that many one-sided openings are now included.

Greetinx from old Europe,

Ingo Zachos

P.S: what are your favorite Top Ten 3-movers, and what are your Top Ten least favoured 3-movers?

[George Hay]

Why is the opening 11-15 24-20 15-19 missing from the full list of 174 three move openings?
--George Hay

Because it is number 159: 1. 11-16 24-20, 2. 15-19 , transposition, if u refer to Brian Hinkle`s list.


Ingo Zachos

Ingo, thanx, what surprised me is that opening 159. 11-16 24-20 16-19 was out of numerical sequence for a transposition!
I can only speculate that is because of the historical significance of the Bristol, so named by Anderson! Fortman points that out in Basic Checkers, pages 369 and 439.

Thank you for this topic that fills in some "black holes" of checkers history!
--George Hay

[George Hay]

In the opening section of the ACF website is
A Compilation of the Barred Openings, by Dennis Cayton (1997).
Classroom>Openings>Cayton's Compilation
http://www.usacheckers.com/caytoncompilationindex.php
Under the Nutcracker 1. 10-15, 22-17; 2. 9-14, 17x10; 3. 7x14,
William F. Ryan is mentioned!
The Nutcracker is still a barred opening!
(I included the only possible jumps!)
--George Hay

[George Hay]

I stumbled on an entry in the OMOCH Timeline. It states that Richard Atwell suggested a 3-move opening restriction, and the year is 1901!

W.T. Call in The Literature of Checkers (1908) features Scientific Draughts by Richard Atwell in entry 214, "Bristol, 1905. Pages 186. This book is a distinct novelty in checker literature. It contains essays on...The Two Move Ballot Restriction,...and other subjects of which the author has opinions of his own....The pronounced personality of the author appears at every turn." There is no specific mention of three move in W. T. Call's description, but it is intriguing!

W.T. Call in Vocabulary of Checkers(1909) mentions three move in the entry on Two-move restriction, "Owing to the rapid way in which the two-move restriction has been sifted to its necessary lines, the possibility of a three-move and four-move restriction has been suggested by some writers." This time W. T. Call does not mention Atwell, but there is more intrigue!

--George Hay

[George Hay]

This is a link to an article in The Brisbane Courier from April 9, 1932. It describes
early three-move play and mentions Atwell.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/21797677