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Checker Champion
Alexander Baljakin
Checker Champion
Alex Baljakin
Checkers Tournaments
Dutch Open
Checkers Championship
Chekcers In
Den Haag~The Hague,
Russian Champion
Checker Players
Not Gold, but Silver
Checker Champions
Noteworthy International
Checkers Players
21st International Festival
des Jeux and
Checkers Championships
Nijmegen Open International
Damtoernooi
Checkers Tournament
Checkers Champions
Balt Cup 2007
Checkers Champion
Iser Koeperman
Cannes International
Checkers Festival
Women's Checkers
Checkers Champion
Amangul Durdyev
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Checkers Tournaments
of The 21st Century
2003 Checkers Tournaments
Lamine Diakite vs Alex Baljakin
Netherlands Championship
Den Haag
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Ballgooijen vs Alex Baljakin
Orap Open Axioma,
Netherlands |
Hans Jansen vs Alex Baljakin
Netherlands Checkers Championship Den Haag
2004 Checkers Competitions
Alex Baljakin vs Ron Heusdens
2nd Place Silver
Netherlands Championship Open |
Huissen Last Round Netherlands Championship |
Nijmegen 1st Place 2005 |
Amongst several mind sport competitions, Alex participated in the following major checkers tournaments: the Cannes International Festival des Jeux or Festival of Draughts/Checkers, the Netherlands National Championship at Groningen, the Team World Checkers/International Draughts Championship in Varazze Italy with teammates Harm Wiersma, Rob Clerc and Kees Thijssen and the World Championship Match in Amsterdam.
Auke Scholma vs Alex Baljakin
4th Place
Groningen Checkers Tournament |
Alex Baljakin vs Rob Clerc Nederlands Kampioenschap~Netherlands
Championship |
Baljakin traversed Europe to join his teammates Harm Wiersma, Rob Clerc, Ron Heusdens and Kees Thijssen in Varazze, Italy for the World Team Draughts/Checkers Championship match in 2005. The roster included teams from sixteen other countries, in which many world Grandmasters participated: Belarus, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Guinee, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Switzerland and Ukraine.
In this International checkers competition, the Netherlands team challenged, defeated and played to draws at the checkerboard familiar opponents such as Alexander Georgiev, Alexei Tsjizjov, Alexander Schwarzman, Alexander Getmanski, Guntis Valneris, Jean-Marc Ndjofang, Ndonzi Flaubert, Leopold Kouogueu, Ndiaga Samb, Bassirou Ba, Anatoli Gantwarg and Arnaud Cordier. Of course, these great checkers players only accounted for a portion of the roster in this checkers arena.
World Team Draughts/Checkers Championship, Varazze Italy
Alex Baljakin vs Raldo Varik (Estonia) |
Alex Baljakin vs Alexei Tsjizjov |
In this tournament of high calibre play across the checkerboard, where opposing forces displayed tactical skill in attack and defense with variations in checkers moves, the Netherlands team shared defeat in the Quarter Finals of the World Championship when it lost to Russia by a final checkers total of two wins to none. Russia scored five points to the three by Netherland. The individual games of Baljakin~Tsjizjov, Wiersma~Georgiev and Thijssen~Schwarzman all ended in draws with a score of one win each, but Rob Clerc could not pull off a win or tie against Alex Getmanski and this defeat of two losses was the unfortunate finale for the Dutch Grandmasters.
The final outcome gave Russia the gold with first place. Senegal placed second and won silver, while Latvia ranked third and won bronze. Belarus took fourth place and the Netherlands secured fifth in its win against France with a score of 5 wins to 3. In this match, only Alex Baljakin won his game, while Ron, Rob, and Kees finished in draws.
Unfortunately, however, the checkers competition did not come off without a hitch and Cameroon faced some racial slurs posed by Italian players during the tournament. Some compensation was made, but at the end of the tournament, the Netherlands, Senegal, Cameroon, and Guinea filed a protest against the Italian Draughts/Checkers Federation for its disorganization and lack of consideration towards the delegations. This would be taken to the FMJD and the matter would be investigated to qualify the merit of the complaint. It would be a blessing to see the mind sport unaffected by the ways of the world, but life just doesn’t function in such a manner and despite good intentions of organizers, often circumstances exist to spoil even the best planned championship match.
2005
Cannes Open Festival Des Jeux
1st Place
International Checkers Champion
Alex Baljakin vs Hans Jansen |
Siarhei Nasevich (Belarus) vs Alex Baljakin |
World Checkers Championship, Amsterdam Netherlands
Alex Baljakin (Bronze ~3rd), Alexei Tsjizjov (Gold~1st), & Guntis Valneris (Silver~2nd)>
at
World International Draughts/Checkers Champions
Amsterdam, Netherlands
When the International Grandmasters congregated in Amsterdam for the checkers World Championship competition, the players had plenty to see in Amsterdam besides a checkerboard.
Amsterdam
View of a Amsterdam Canal |
View a the Amsterdam Canal
1 |
View of the Amsterdam Bridge |
Historic Hotel |
City Sunset |
Amsterdam-Rijn Canal |
Bijlmer, Amsterdam |
2006
Another year passed and brought new opportunities for Alex to participate in the familiar setting of checkers competition. Again he challenged notable masters across the checkerboard and faced new opponents, new checker techniques and new endgames in the world of this mind sport. Baljakin’s game expertise and board strategies led him to the final rounds of various tournaments and championships in the European International Draughts/Checkers arena. Amongst the numerous competitions he participated in, Alex usually placed in the top ranks with the other International checkers Grandmasters.
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CHECKERS CHEST
Two Player