Don Morgan Lafferty

Edwin Hunt

Willie Ryan

Asa Long

Walter Hellman

William Edwards

Sam Levy

Sam Gonotsky

Dr. Marion Tinsley

Derek Oldbury

Elbert Lowder

Leo Levitt

Richard Hallett

African
Checker Champions

1st International Match
In Barbados

Checkers in The
West Indies

The International
Checkers Stage
“Men Only”

Checkers in The News

Checkers Pool

Checkers Champions
Of The Netherlands

Jannes van der Wal

Ton ‘Teunis’ Sijbrands

Checkers Champion
Harm Wiersma

Checkers 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 ‘tricks’ and talents. Some of the game masters have played and still play International draughts, while others engage in the challenges of American checkers.
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 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 in this 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 West Indian 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 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 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 PanAmerican checkers competition, which has been hosted in Curacao and Sao Paulo, Brazil, in recent years. The most regular PanAmerican entrants in the checkers 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 Panamerican 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 PanAmerican Championship is used to qualify the representatives of the American zone at the checkers 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 Panamerican checkers history as Champions of the PanAmerican 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 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 Panamerican 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 the Haitian players were very well prepared for the battle. Of course, with the absence of the "Russian" American and Surinam players, the Haitian players remained as the first favourite 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 behaviour 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 PanAmerican Draughts Championships
in Sao Paulo, Brazil

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

More From the Checkers Chest

Home Page | Contact Customer Service |
Deerlake Postcards ® DeerLake Designs L L C