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Checkers Game Champion
Andrew Anderson Continued
(1799-1861) of Braidwood, Scotland.
In the spring of 1899,The
Draughts World printed a letter
by John McKerrow. This was a contemporary
account of the historic checkers game matches
between checkers champion Andrew Anderson
and his worthy opponent, James Wyllie.
“The first time
I had the pleasure of seeing and playing
Mr. Wyllie was shortly before he met Mr.
Anderson in their first match at Edinburgh.
He continued, he would be from 16 to 18 years
of age, and he introduced himself by saying
he wished to have two days play with me.
But I forgot, I had received a letter from
Ayrshire a day or two before, informing me
that I should get a call from a young and
extraordinary player, not but that I had
heard of him, but he was in a manner quite
unknown to me. At the end of the two days
play, I told him he would have no chance
with checkers champion Andrew
Anderson,
and the result justified the prediction.
The faith of the Edinburgh
and dealers in the Herd Laddie,
as they called him, was extraordinary, and
nothing seemed to shake it. Time and again,
five in all, they pitted him against Anderson for
the draughts supremacy, and out of these
matches he gained only one. It was in the
trial which came off at Carluke that he triumphed,
but it was shrewdly suspected by the outside
public, as well as by his supporters, that
it was the state of champion Anderew Anderson's
mind which accounted for his defeat, being
nearly broken-hearted by the death of his
wife shortly before. So convinced were Anderson's
friends that he could still, given normal
conditions, beat his youthful opponent, though
they admitted the latter had made wonderful
progress and was close at the heels of the
former champion, that a challenge was issued
- and accepted at once.
The two agreed to meet
at Lanark in the Clydesdale Hotel. On that
occasion, at the request of Mr. Anderson,
I acted as his second, and on the next, the
fifth checkers game match, I was again asked
to fill the position. The winning of the
match at Lanark by Andrew
Anderson was
a surprise to many, and especially to Wyllie and
his friends. Indeed it was on purpose to
relate how this was brought about that I
sat down to write this article.
Exactly one day before
the checkers game match was finished, Mr
Wyllie was two games ahead of the older
player and to all appearance in a fair way
of again coming out conqueror. So sure was
David Brown, Anderson's principal
if not only supporter, of the result, that
he had almost made up his mind to losing
his money. It was also the general opinion
of townspeople that "Andra" would
lose, and there was a good deal of downheartedness
connected therewith, for Andrew was
well liked, besides being counted nearly
a townsman.
On the morning of the
day previous to the conclusion of the checkers
game match I was in the Barber's shop, when
in came the Herd Laddie. At once he said
in his slow deliberate way, and slightly
comical lisp, "Mr.
McKerrow, I think I'm going to get the better
of Mr. Anderson this time." "I
am not sure about that", I replied,
and immediately left the place. I was nettled,
for there was a quiet sarcastic triumph in
his manner and mode of expression that piqued
me. To make matters worse, that night also,
some of the Lanark folk expressed themselves
to me in similar fashion. "Not at all",
I said, "Champion
Andrew Anderson has
just been puzzling and playing with him,
wait till tomorrow". When saying these
words I had not the least notion what was
going to take place next day; my words, in
truth, were mere brag - bluffing the game
as it is called."
The fact was, we were
both astonished at the originality, boldness,
and general excellence of Wyllie's play.
He had something in the Ayrshire Lassie we
had never seen before, and he put forward
that game whenever he had the chance, we
were baffled and that was the truth. "Come
on", I said to Mr. Anderson on the night
in question, "this will never do, we
must sit up all night and sift that game.
If we can find a flaw in Wyllie's system,
so headstrong and opinionative is he that
he'll run into the trap every time." We
did find a neat thing...it was also arranged
that Anderson should
put off no time but aim for a draw - when
it was his turn to move first. It all turned
out as we desired, and, as I may say, we
had foreseen. Mr. Wyllie pushed his favorite
to the front when he had the black men, and
twice in succession was the lonely maid put
to blush.
At this stage, the
two being now at par, Mr. Wyllie's second,
an Edinburgh solicitor I believe, and financially
interested in the match, addressing me proposed
an adjournment. "No", I said, glancing
at the eager faces of the onlookers - the
house was packed, and the tension of whose
mind was shown by the absolute stillness
- "it would not be fair to interrupt
the play at present, they have paid their
money, the game is at an exceedingly critical
point, and the players themselves are keen
to go on." "Yes", said Mr.
Wyllie, in his simple straightforward way, "I
think Mr. McKerrow is right." This was
enough. I heaved a sigh of relief, for probably
an adjournment would have spoilt all. The
next game, Andrew
Anderson having
the move, of course was a draw. It will scarcely
be believed, but Wyllie,
with that fixedness of purpose, which was
one of his characteristics, and an admirable
one when under control, pushed the beautiful
Ayrshire damsel as before into the identical
same fix, with the inevitable result, that
she again was humiliated.
Then came a full-throated
acclamation of the victor, which was taken
up by those outside. The landlord of the
Globe then requested the attendance of principals,
seconds, and a few sympathizers and friends
in a private room, when he very handsomely
placed on the table five bottles of prime
wine.
Certainly the checkers
game match was won, not by superior play,
but mainly by a knowledge of a weak point
in Mr. Wyllie's mental organism. I have said
that Edinburgh people were so set on Mr.
Wyllie that nothing seemingly could shake
their confidence. In proof of this, another
challenge to Mr. Anderson was issued by the
Herd Laddie, the match this time to come
off in the metropolis. The gage was at once
lifted, and the place of meeting agreed on
was the Robin Hood Tavern, a well-known and
highly respectable resort in the city. This
was the fifth contest between the two, and
the last appearance in public, as a principal,
of Anderson.
As stated above, he again desired me to act
as his second.
There have been various
versions as to how this match was won, but
I will now give the true one. Nothing that
I can say will detract from Anderson's established
merit, and without egoism, nothing I may
set down, permit me to say, will add to my
own. There is little in it, but in referring
to this match I am, as it were, compelled
to tell it, to make it intelligible. There
are only three who knew of it: Drummond, Anderson and
myself, and two of them are dead men, years
ago.
The main condition of
this match was like the others: that the
first nine won games secured by a contestant
should entitle him to be declared dominate. Anderson managed
eight, but do his best, he could not get
the other one. Wyllie's fence
end defence was so good. It was so good that Anderson said
to me one day, "I am sick of it, I'll
draw the match, besides it is expensive staying
here." "Nonsense", I replied, "you
have only one game to get and the money is
yours." "True," he said, "but
how are we to get that game?" "Let
Drummond," I returned, "take my
place with the watch, and I'll practice all
day by myself and see what can be done." This
was agreed to, and at night I showed Anderson and
Drummond what I had wrought out. Drummond
averred it would do, if adroitly managed.
Next day, it was tried, and it d id exactly
what it was meant to do, win the game.
And now perhaps it
may be possible to attempt of Mr
Wyllie as a draughts player. I risk nothing
by making the statement that he was, without
caviling, one of the very few who have gained
a certain point in draughts playing. It will
not be denied, Mr Wyllie had
a very large share of that precious and indefinable
thing called genius, without which no one,
however industrious, and book-learned, can
hope to attain pre-eminence at the game.
What were Mr. Wyllie's
prime characteristics as a checkers champion
player? In my opinion there were two - originality
and dourness - angelic doggedness, his courage
was splendid. The originality was shown not
so much by brilliant play, as by masterly
combinations, and massing of his forces into
well nigh impregnable positions, against
which many a gallant foe dashed himself in
vain. Not that he could not make a daring
charge with the best, but that from temperament
and choice his mode was steady sustained
advancement, once gained, always kept. When
playing Mr Wyllie,
one had the impression of contending against
a force, equable and powerful, not erratic,
but constant and continuous. When at his
best his play was of an extraordinary high
nature. Like a long-distance runner, he went
off at one speed and kept it up to the end.
He knew where he excelled, he knew his staying
power, and whenever he could manage it he
preferred a long match to a short one.
To compare Mr. Anderson
with Mr. Wyllie, I would with all diffidence
say that, while both stand on the same platform,
what distinguishes the one from the other
in a general sense is that checkers champion
Andrew Anderson was more versatile, quicker
at perceiving, and taking any advantage,
while Mr. Wyllie was more pertinacious, if
slower, and when he got a chance, more deadly.
Equally far sighted, the versatility and
deftness of the one was counter-balanced
by the momentum of the other.”
This account of the actual five checkers
matches between Anderson and Wyllie truly gives
one a sense of the dynamics of each game, and
the spirit demonstrated by each player. It
creates a visual imagery of the skill that
was so easily displayed and the determination
to set the best strategy and to gain the upper
hand that would eventually lead to a sweet
win. McKerrow’s words set the stage and
easily transport the reader back in time to
an era when the first World Champion of checkers
reigned over the checkerboard.
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