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Checkers Game
in the West Indies

Throughout history, many giants in the mind sport of checkers have made their appearance on the local, national, and International stage, which gave them a venue to display their unique checkers game ‘tricks’ and talents. Some of the checkers game masters have played and still play International draughts, while others engage in the challenges of American checkers games.

In the past, the style was GAYP (Go-As-You-Please) and 2-Move Restriction, but the 2-Move gave way to the 3-Move game. GAYP and the 3-Move checker game style of play are more prevalent in the U.S.; however, the 8 x 8 checkerboard game is also enjoyed in the countries of Great Britain ~ England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. History has witnessed numerous International Matches between the U.S. checkers team and that of Great Britain checkers game.

With time, the interest in this great sport has spread beyond the borders of Europe to Africa, and beyond the boundaries of the U.S. into the West Indies, Central, South America, and to a more limited extent into Asia. The Checkers Game
in the West Indies countries of Barbados and Bermuda have joined their sister members within the American Checker Federation (ACF), which is a non-profit organization and the central governing body for checkers games in the United States.

Currently, the ACF also has members in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Wales, smaller islands in the West Indies, and the U.S. The ACF holds many checker tournaments across the United States and sponsors an annual National Checkers Tournament in GAYP and 3-Move, wherein the each winner earns the right to compete in the World Checkers Games Title match.

Aruba, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Trinidad-Tobago hold members who have joined the FMJD to play International checkers, primarily in Pan-American checkers competition, which has been hosted in Curacao and Sao Paulo, Brazil, in recent years. The most regular Pan-American entrants in the checkers game tournaments have been Bonaire, Costa Rica, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Suriname, and Brazil.

There are thirty-four countries in the Americas, as well as a few islands. The Pan-American and Draughts Checkers Federation (PADCF) has contacts with eighteen of them: Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Curacao, the United States, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Panama, the Dominican Republic, St. Martin, St. Vincent, Suriname, and Trinidad-Tobago.

The Pan-American Championship is used to qualify the representatives of the American zone at the checkers games World Championships. This competition is held every two years, and brings together the best two players from each country, while the host country reserves the right to submit three representative checkers players.
The following International draughts players have successfully recorded a place in Pan-American checkers history as Champions of the Pan-American Draughts Championships since the first match in 1980:

In the same way that many European and African Masters and Grandmasters in checkers travel great distances to attend national tournaments and World championships, the experienced International checkers players travel within the West Indies, Central America, and Brazil to attend world qualifying competitions. They, too, face many different situations within the checkers game environment, and over the years many new friendships have been forged.

As a result of the instability within many countries around the world, there is certainly the potential for problems sometimes cropping up. However, it would seem that the Pan-American checkers players have been fortunate in that regard.
During 2003-4, the 12th Pan-American Draughts Championship was held in Cap Haitien, Haiti, and some concerns certainly surrounded the event because Haiti has had its share of political and economic problems in the past. However, all went well for the checkers entourage. The president of the PADCF made these comments after the event:
“In spite of all of the negative news about security and so on in Port-au-Prince, we managed to play this championship with 12 players proceeding from Brazil, Canada, Curaçao, Guadeloupe, Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti. During our stay of some days in Port-au-Prince on our arrival and departure we just could not take notice of any insecure situation either by day or by night. The organizing committee really did a great job to host this Championship in Cap Haitien and also host Checkers Game
players from the West Indies. The Haitian players from the West Indies were very well prepared for the checkers game battle. Of course, with the absence of the "Russian" American and Surinam players, the Haitian players remained as the first favorite to win the championship. The Haitian players and their coaches were hosted in Hotel Brise du Mer just around the corner where the games were played while all players from abroad, officials and also authorities from Port-au-Prince were hosted in the Rival Hotel, a two-years old hotel built on the edge of a mountain next to the beach and with an excellent view on the Atlantic Ocean and the north of Haiti.
The championship was played in a very good ambiance with every day about approximately 200 spectators visiting the games. The game of draughts is extremely popular in Haiti and especially in Cap Haitien... (everyone) was very peaceful, polite, sincere, and with a respectful behavior towards strangers (and the checkers players)...The closing ceremonies of this championship started at 7 p.m. and was a big party like never seen before on a Pan-American or a World Championship. There were about 350 to 400 guests and after the official presentation, there was a show of cultural music, Haitian jazz, and dancing that lasted until after 1 o'clock a.m.
We all know by now the good performance of the Haitian players in the championship. Also against each other they played good games. We want to thanks them for this and also we do congratulate them with this achievement and wish them all the best in the coming world championship...”

Group photo of Checkers Masters during 2007 Pan-American Draughts Championships
in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The following checkers players took part in the 14th Pan-American Championships to play matches in International draughts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the 2007 competition.

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