|
|
Welcome Checker Players to
Den Haag The Hague, Netherlands
Weerstandspunten
Checkers Game
Hotel on the Waterfront |
City Roundabout with Fountain |
Scheveningen beach and hotels |
Fortis Circus Theatre Plaza
|
This Netherlands Open checkers game tournament
had the largest number of enrolled participants
of any European or Dutch competition. The
innovative aspect of the tourney was that
the roster was
‘open’ to
any checkerist from the Grandmasters’ ranks
to the recreational gamer of the checkerboard.
Therefore, the playing field and checkers
environment became an ideal mix of master,
intermediate and novice gamers. Moreover,
the competitors at the checkerboard were
a blend of men, women and youth seeking their
personal best and the tournament trophy.
The only exception to this joint endeavor
in the mind sport circuit was the World Championships
in checkers, which still applied separately
to the categories under Men’s, Women’s
and Youth World Championship checkers game
competitions.
Aside from the high caliber of checkers matches,
the competitive atmosphere was balanced
with several ancillary activities such as
the N. K. Aspiranten (youth competition,
Van Leeuwen & Meurs Park Blitz and the
Van Leeuwen & Meurs Disco Blitz.
The setting for the checkers Open was conducive
to the mind sport as it was held in the spacious
card rooms of the Bowling World complex at
the Zuiderpark, Den Haag, while the rest of
the checkers game activities took place in
the park itself.
Zuiderpark, Den Haag |
Zuiderpark, Den Haag outside building. |
Zuiderpark, Den Haag Water Fountain. |
The Axioma Open hosted nine divisions of
130 avid checkers game players from across
the Netherlands, Belarus, Russia, Latvia
and the Ukraine and offered a wide range
of competitive experience and checkers skill.
Baljakin joined the now very familiar faces
of Guntis Valneris, Alexander Schwarzman,
Kees Thijssen, Ron Heusdens, Rob Clerc, Vadim
Virny, Hans Jansen, and Jean-Marc Ndjofang.
This Open checkers competition was a first
for Rob Clerc, who had captured the Dutch
Championship eight times in the past and
placed 2nd in several World Championships,
because he normally shied away from this
type of checkers match. However, as a Dutch
professional ‘dammer’ or
checker player, recent events had encouraged
his participation in this arena of checkers
Grandmasters: health reasons, money, maximizing
his playing opportunities, and poor National
and World Championships in the spring due
to the lack of ranking participants for the
titles. This situation threatened to jeopardize
his NOPC ‘A’ NSF
ranking and funding, so much so that Rob
Clerc needed to gain a certain number of
checkers game points to maintain his current
status within the Netherlands mind sport
professional circuit.
GMI Rob Clerc at Checkers
Baljakin joined a checkers roster of 22 Class ‘A’ masters
to play in nine rounds at the checkerboard
over a period of seven days. The leaders of
the tournament set the pace from the beginning,
but there was always an unexpected outcome
in a checkers game or two. Alex played to draws
in his first two games but then proceeded to
win in Round three and continued to defeat
his checkers opponents in Round 4 and 5 with
a ‘dubbleslag’ or
literally translated as a ‘double
stroke or blow’. He was the only
top player to make such a huge gain. Of course,
his opponents across the checkerboard were
not happy by this outcome, as it now placed
Baljakin in solid top leading position with
Guntis and the others.
Once again, this field of players displayed seasoned
checkers game skills, strategies and board tactics
of solid attack and defense moves to offer any spectator
viewing the various games a high caliber competition.
By Round 9, the top six contenders were challenging
each other for the winning rank and awards, but the
match of each pair of checkers Grandmasters ended
in draws: Alexander Getmanski vs Alex Baljakin, Guntis
Valneris vs Alexander Schwarzman and Vadim Virny
vs Jean-Marc Ndjofang.
Weerstandspunten Checkers
The final results of the Axioma Open 2006 concluded
with ten checkers masters scoring a total of thirteen
points and the top six finishing with four wins and
five draws each. The Weerstandspunten checkers
game tournament organizers then determined the five
top awards by the accumulated
‘Weerstandspunten’ of
each checkerist leading the pack. These ‘defense
points’ collected per checkers game were
extremely close between the competition leaders, but
in the end, Alex Getmanski won first place and the
Gold cup with 107 ‘Weerstandspunten’.
Guntis Valneris and Vadim Virny each had accumulated
101 ‘Weerstandspunten’,
so the tourney judges determined second and third place
by the ‘Weerstandspunten
(laag/hoog)’ ~ difference between the
low/high or weak/strong defense strategies. The final
result for second rank and the Silver medal was Vadim
Virny with 82 and third place Bronze was given to Guntis
Valneris with 80 points. Alex Baljakin finished 4th
with 98 ‘Weerstandspunten’,
while Rob Clerc and Yuriy Anikeev scored 97 ‘Weerstandspunten’ and
tied for fifth. Jean-Marc Ndjofang followed in 6th
place, and Alexander Schwarzman, defending champion
from 2005, couldn't quite make the winning moves in
2006 and finished 9th. Baljakin also finished in a coup
de grace by winning the Aad Ivens trophy for
being the best Dutch player at the DNC Open checkers
game tournament.
Alex Baljakin with Aad Ivens Trophy |
Harm Wiersma congratulating Alex Baljakin |
Adventures in the checkers game arena did not
end there for Alexander Baljakin in 2006. The
fall brought yet another opportunity for Alex
to display checkerboard strategies in the European
Checkers Championship held in Bovec, Slovenia.
In this competition, the Dutch/Belarussian
Grandmaster headed a roster of high caliber
challengers including defending champion, Alexander
Schwartzman, Alexander Georgiev, Guntis Valneris,
Alexei Tsjizjov, Anatoli Gantwarg, Ron Heusdens,
Kees Thijssen, Mark Podolsky, & Auke Scholma.
|
|
