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Checker Game Match
Barbados Players
Thursday, June 3
Today was the day for our van trip of the
island, also $25 apiece. (There is also a
more costly full day version, but we only
did the four-hour tour.) The participants
included Alex Moiseyev, the Millhones, Webster's,
Lindsay's, Tuckers, Clayton Nash, Steve Jones,
Anthony Bishop, Charles Freeman, Michael
Holmes, Erin, Gerry, and myself. I started
the day with mildly sunburn legs from the
boat trip yesterday, but the sunburn wasn't
too bad.
Barbados is divided into 11 'parishes' (like
a county or township) with a population
of 268,000 (90% black) as of 2000. Most
of the parishes where the Barbados players
live are named after saints, such as St.
Peter, St. Thomas, etc. Barbados is a very
religious place with around 300 churches,
with Anglican predominant. There is one
college on the island called the University
of the West Indies.
As I had seen since my first night, the
roads are very narrow, winding, and often
unmarked. Frequent spots of either sewer
construction or pedestrians blocking roadways
further complicated this situation. Often
cars would drive right down the center of
the road until another car forced them to
one side. Once we drove away from the coast,
I saw that this island had highways and
wide open areas for farms. Gas is relatively
expensive (around $3 per gallon), and gas
stations didn't even display prices on their
signs. Health care is free in Barbados,
but taxes are higher. Barbados is a coral
island (as opposed to volcanic), so there
are no mountains. The water is supposedly
very pure here due to the coral structure.
Part of our day trip consisted of a tour,
for an additional $6, of the Francia Plantation
House, built in 1910. Guides took us through
the ground floor of the house, much of
which was roped off. The house is still
currently lived in upstairs, and also the
downstairs in the evening when the tours
stop. In a large living room we saw a wooden
game table with both a checkerboard and
backgammon playing surface. That sure got
the attention of the men in our group!
The tour concluded with a glass of rum
punch on the veranda. We were invited to
walk through the grounds to see adjoining
gardens. There were several acres of beautiful,
colorful plants and flowers across from
a manicured lawn.
Barbados Francia Plantation House
Our next stop was the Harrison Caves at
the center of the island. (The orchid gardens
were another tour option, but this was dropped
due to time constraints.) For those that
wished to enter the cave, the cost was an
additional $16 US or $30 Barbados. Gene Lindsay
suggested paying in Barbados money by credit
card, which would convert to a cheaper rate
of $15 US on my statement. The adventure
began with a ten-minute movie presentation
on geological formations of islands and caves.
The cave was discovered in 1795 and opened
in 1981. For the cave ride, we sat in a
tram that was driven by a tour guide. We
covered a mile within the cave. Everywhere
we saw stalactites, stalagmites, waterfalls
and running water. We were reminded of
how many centuries passed to form these
stalactite and stalagmites. There was minimal
lighting in place throughout the cave,
so visibility was adequate. Occasionally,
one would feel a drop of water landing
on you from above, but it wasn't that damp
in there. There were a few spots where
we were permitted to get out and walk around
for pictures. Some of the specific views
included a large open hall, a large pool
of water with quicksand like mud on the
bottom, and a large waterfall (maybe a
60-foot drop) coming out of a small hole
in the ceiling. I certainly enjoyed the
sights.
As we drove away from the Harrison Caves
area, we came to the top of a high hill.
Across a valley we could see the highest
point on the island at 1100 ft above sea
level. The east side of the island and
the Atlantic Ocean could be seen in the
background. On the return trip, we drove
by the Sandy Lane villas, which run from
$2100-20,000 a night. Our driver said rich
investors and business people are the type
of people that generally stay there. I
believe someone said Tiger Woods had stayed
there too. We also saw the Sandy Lane golf
course nearby.
We drove through Bridgeport on the way
back. Bridgeport is a 375-year-old city.
Broad Street was bustling with lots of
people and cars in this large shopping
district. Broad Street, which I never got
to visit in person, is the heart and soul
of Barbados' duty free shopping. There
are two nearby bridges over a river for
which the city is named. We also saw a
cricket stadium, horse racing track, Parliament
building, prime minister's office, and
a house (currently under restoration) where
George Washington stayed.
Barbados Players Worry
The U.S. team was still concerned about
if and when the make up round would be
played. There seemed to be no good solution.
The Barbados players work in the daytime.
Our bus leaves after the play at 11:00
pm. Playing Saturday morning is not an
option since many U.S. players have flights
back home Saturday morning. The Barbados
players suggested requiring 40 moves per
hour on the time clock to speed up games
in order to squeeze in three rounds on
one day. This idea was not well received
by many of the U.S. players since an international
match should provide more than an hour
per game, as needed. So far, there have
always been a couple games in every round
that have gone to the time limit, even
under the 30 moves per hour rule.
Erskine Bayne opened the session with
a few announcements and reminders for the
Barbados players. He commented that each
player is responsible for his own time
clock (although it is courteous for the
opponent to give warnings when forgetting
to punch a clock). Secondly, bystanders
should not get involved with any game rulings
that are the job of the referee.
There were also two times during the week
where the announced pairings repaired people
who had just played, which should not be
allowed. Erskine was quick to correct the
situation once it was pointed out. Since
Barbados checkers players are new at
hosting such a match, I suppose a few bugs
can be expected.
I opened the evening session against Tony
Fergusson. After what appeared to be a
standard Barbados-style Dyke game, my opponent
made an inferior move in the mid-game and
got into a weak position and endgame. (This
surprised me since the Barbados team was
normally well versed on this line of play.)
He got into time trouble, despite several
of my reminders to punch his clock. Even
with Erskine's earlier announcement, his
flag fell. Alan Millhone watched it fall
as referee. My opponent was very unhappy
with the situation..here we go again! Ron
King came over to verify that fewer than
30 moves were made. After things settled
down, Mr. Fergusson was very gracious and
came over and shook my hand. I replied
I was sorry to win it that way.
With the exception of King, Walcott, and
Grosvenor, I suspect most of the Barbados
players were unfamiliar with time clocks
before this match. In this case, it appeared
my opponent did not understand the time
rules. While my two time forfeits are only
a small subset of the 180 games played
this week, losing in this manner was very
costly to the Barbados team checkers players
in such a tight match.
A reporter took a statement from me as
I left the playing room for the day. She
worked for the Internet site, which was
providing daily coverage throughout the
Barbados Festival of Draughts. At the end
of Thursday's play, the U.S. picked up
one more net win to put us ahead +6 wins
(12 points).
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