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Checkers Game
Champion Henry Christie
Henry Christie was notably a fine checker
player; in fact, he was considered to be
one of the very best checkers game players
to herald from England. As with many of Christie's
checkers game counterparts, Christie loved
the game and gave it his all during regular
games and tournament play. Christie possessed
his own style that assisted him to become
the high scorer for the British team in the
second International checkers game match
of 1927.
Twice Henry Christie won the English checkers
game Championships, and in several International
matches between England and Scotland, Christie
was one of the leading players for England.
Though Christie had lost his right eye in
a terrible hunting accident, and wore a glass
eye, the tragedy did not conflict with his
skill as a solid checkers game player.
In 1927, as a 61 years old checkers game
player, Henry Christie ended a match with
a score of one win, two losses, and thirty-seven
draws. As a result of this great feat, he
was called the “drawing master”. Some
have still stated that this score was rather
remarkable, but all in all he had more checkers
game talent and skill at his finger tips
so that his score could have been and should
have been a lot better than that. In a discussion
on his game in his biography, comments were
made that Checkers Game Champion Henry Christie
played conservatively and this resulted in
some many draws, but whether he did or not,
was something only Henry Christie himself
knew about. Some sources say that Christie
did not play conservatively at all but came
with a competitive mindset to play and win
and that this checker mentality was depicted
in the way he attacked the skilled play of
Ginsberg, Long, and Gonotsky.
Henry Christie was a strong checker tournament
player and although he ended with four draws
against Bradford on the first day of a tournament
Christie displayed a tenacity in his board play on
day two as he attacked the checker game of Louis Ginsberg.
The result of this strategy and fortitude was indeed a
win for Christie by a score of 1-0-3. This match was a
great feat for Christie as Louis Ginsberg was one of the
strongest checker players in the world at this time.
Furthermore, Ginsberg was a great natural cross board
player, who lost very few games during his career. Ginsberg
was an equal to Champion Alfred Jordan,
also renowned for his play in this era, and certainly would
have presented Henry Christie with many interesting challenges
in the tournament checker play.
It’s also interesting to see how a
series of matches during a tournament can
have an unexpected outcome at the end. The
following illustration clearly shows how
the nature of the sport can readily change
game by game. In this checkers game champion
tournament, Robert Scobbie of the Scottish
team beat Asa A. Long by the score of 2-1-1
in their match, and again this checker champion
did not lose very often. Then Ginsberg beat
Scobbie in their match with a score of 1-0-3,
and Henry Christie beat Louis Ginsberg.
Asa Long later reported in an article in
the American Checker Federation Bulletin
(ACFB) that champion checkers player Henry
Christie should never have lost to him. However,
reports have stated that Christie's loss
to Gonotsky on the eighth day of the tournament
was both misguided and not well thought out.
The ballot drawn was the Edinburgh 9-13,
22-18, and admittedly, the weakest play of
the two move openings.
His biography states that "He played
safe, and did not underestimate any of the
American strategists", but some sources
disagree with this statement and believe
that Christie attempted to surprise Gonotsky
by playing 11-15. Checker experts feel that
this was a ridiculous play given that Christie
was playing one of the greatest natural cross-board
checkers game players who ever lived. It
would have been hard enough to draw the great
Gonotsky with the Edinburgh, even had he
chosen 12-16, or 10-15, or 6-9. These are
all proven draws in published checker literature.
But to attempt to attack Gonotsky with 11-15
on which there was some published play but
certainly not enough proven draw play to
depend on, was a very poor checker decision
made by Henry Christie under these game circumstances.
Today, 9-13, 22-18, and 11-15 are still considered
weak 3-move openings, and it would have been
the same in 1927. Unfortunately, although
champion Christie played the game brilliantly
against Gonotsky, he was not able to recover
enough to win the checkers match. At one
point, however, he did play a magnificent
4 for 4 shot that almost drew the game, but
that was only ALMOST as it did not help him
succeed as winner.
Despite the defeat against Gonotsky, Henry
Christie proved to the checkers world that
he was indeed a skilled checker player, but
his one failing was that he did not make the
best decision in a given game situation. Perhaps
his strategy was well thought out in his mind,
but the game play just didn't allow him to
carry through with it. Checkers player Christie
was not unique to this as a checker champion,
as many masters before and after him have also
found themselves in precarious positions despite
their ingenious checkers game tactics and innovative
plays.
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