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Checkers Champion
Amangul Durdyev
Checkers Champion Amangul Durdyev Winner |
Checkers Champion Amangul Durdyev |
Checkers Champion Amangul Durdyev |
Checkers Champion Amangul Durdyev Waits for Checkers |
Another rising checkers champion in the
21st century is Amangul Durdyev, a native of
Turkmenistan. The young WGM ~ Women’s
Grandmaster in checkers was born in 1987 and
has already achieved acclaim in the checkers
circuit.
Champion Amangul Durdyev is the only female
checker playing member from a family highly
accomplished in the game of draughts/checkers
and she has already represented her homeland
of Turkmenistan with distinction at the checkerboard.
The young checker player is flanked by five
brothers: Mustafa, Bagtiyar, Parahat, Bashim
and Maksat and by her father, Hoja, all of
whom are adept at the International Draughts
and English Checkers as well as different
variants of the game.
Amangul developed her early checker game
skills by first playing the International
variant of checkers, in which she became the Women’s
Checkers Champion of Turkmenistan at the
age of 14. Champion Amangul Durdyev also
ranked as top youth player and won first
place in 2001 at the World Youth International
Draughts/ Checkers Championships held in
Belarus, Russia.
In 2002, Checkers Champion Amangul joined
her brothers at Loughborough University in
England for the 6th Mind Sport Olympiad,
wherein she placed second in International
Draughts (Checkers) and ranked 9th overall
in the MSO. The opportunity to play at an
International competitive level offered Amangul
a chance to further develop and refine her
checkerboard game techniques.
However, the young checkers champion
from Turkmenistan truly gained a presence
in the checkers arena in 2003. Once again
the Durdyev family participated in the MSO,
held in Manchester, England. In the International
Draughts Olympiad Championship, Amangul won
gold in both the junior and senior divisions,
as well as achieving gold in the Overall
Draughts competition. Then her prominence
and technical skill as a master checkers
player was clearly displayed across the checkerboard
during the Irish Open Championships in Cookstown,
Northern Ireland.
Amangul Durdyev was one of thirty-seven entrants
in the Intermediate division in the 64 square
English style of checkers games, wherein
she placed 2nd with 30 points. At this time,
her natural talent and skill in a checkers
game was easily recognized.
The following year, the young checker champion
Amangul Durdyev from Turkmenistan
returned to Ireland to participate in the
All Irish Open International Draughts Festival,
where Amangul successfully played her style
of checkers against various strong opponents.
Her final tournament score was impressive,
ending with a total of 29 points in the Senior
Division. This final result not only gave
checkers champion Durdyev the best overall
score of the tournament in any division,
but it also gave her the win with first place.
After her excellent game display at the checkerboard,
the Olympic Junior Champion, was gradually
blossoming into a first rate checkers player
and prevalent thought was that she would
soon be considered as a serious challenger
for the Women’s World 3-Move title
competition.
In 2005, Amangul Durdyev was one of only
five competitors entered in the World Qualifying
Tournament held at Prague. She competed against
Jan Mortimer, Kim Willis, Alena Sorokina
and Marie Riedlbauchova. Numerous other international
entrants had previously shown interest in
the World Championship match, but in the
end simply did not appear for the game play
across the checkerboard. Amangul and Jan
took the lead in the first rounds of checkers
play and displayed both skill and technique
in their plays. Amangul Durdyev finished
just ahead of Jan Mortimer and easily defeated
the other female contesters. The final result
ended in Durdyev winning the Women’s World
GAYP Championship title, with Jan Mortimer
finishing in 2nd place and Kim Willis placing
3rd.
The following year, a GAYP Championship match
was to have taken place between Amangul and
Jan to determine who would take the vacant
GAYP World Title, but in the end, Jan Mortimer
withdrew from the competition due to family
commitments and the WCDF General Assembly
awarded the title to checkers champion Amangul
Durdyev and she became the Women’s
World GAYP Champion in 2006.
Then as had been previously predicted, champion
Amangul challenged Carlow Accountant and
World 3-Move Champion, Patricia Breen, for
the Women’s
3-Move Championship title. This was Breen’s
fourth defense of her title since she first
won it from Joan Caws in 1993.
Their 20-game checkers marathon match took
place over a four day period in Buncrana, Northern
Ireland, at the All Irish Open International
Draughts Festival in October 2007. During this
series of four games per day, checkers lovers
witnessed numerous outstanding plays between
the two champions; however, Amangul outplayed
Patricia across the checkerboard in this historical
checkers match to win the championship title
with a final score of eight wins, two losses,
and six draws. Buncrana crowned a new checkers
champion during the festival championships.
Champion Amangul became the first undisputed Women’s
Champion in both styles of checkers play ~
3-Move and GAYP. What will happen in 2008 when
Jan and Amangul Durdyev meet to play for the
checkers game title again?
2007
Amangul at the Irish Open Checkers Championships
with Hugh Devlin |
2007
Amangul at the Irish Open Checkers Championships
with Patricia Breen |
2007
Amangul at the Irish Open
Checkers Championships
with Ron ‘Suki’ King |
Kim Willis from Eldon, Missouri, is one of the few
women in the US who play in the national checkers circuit.
She is in her late 40’s but in a similar situation
to Jan Mortimer of New Zealand, didn't start playing
across the checkerboard until a few years ago, when
she met ‘King’ Suki
from Barbados online. It didn't take long before Kim
was ‘hooked’ on
the game and is now an avid checkers player, though
she mostly prefers to play the American or English
style of 64-square checkers. For her, this game is
not a ‘child’s
game’ but takes serious devotion, concentration,
and skill to become a Grandmaster player of any worth.
According to Willis, "I'm
not rich. I'm not famous. I just want to be the No.
1 seed."
When she first played checkers competitively in
1998, the novice player lost every game in the
Niagara Falls tournament; however, while some
gamers would react negatively to those results,
it merely helped to egg Kim on to further develop
the checkers game that she had quickly discovered
as a new love in her life.
Now, nine years later, Willis has traversed
the country numerous times and traveled across
both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea
in order to participate in national and international
checkers tournaments and is considered a
reigning American champion and one of the
best in the world. She is ranked fourth in
the world by the WCDF in the American checkers/English
draughts arena.
In the last decade or so, Kim has invested
a lot of time and money on these many tournaments
that have given her an amazing sense of self
and a new type of gratification inherent
in this great game at the checkerboard. However,
Kim is actively seeking sponsors who will
share in her burden of traveling expenses.
In 2004 she had hopes of attending the 8th
Mind Sport Olympiad in Manchester, England
and trips such that are costly endeavors
when a person must pay for everything alone.
At that time in 2004, Kim had already crossed the U.S.
to compete in seven state tournament competitions as
well as the Women’s World Qualifier in Bridgetown,
Barbados, where she placed 3rd out of a field of eight
players. In August of that year, Willis was one of
a few females to compete in the American Checkers Federation
2004 National and World Checker tournaments. At 46,
Kim still believes that she hasn't acquired a
master status as yet.
“There are
not many women who play, but the ones who do
are usually Grandmasters. I do not call myself
a Grandmaster. I am just a checkers game player."
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