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Walter Hellman
Wins Loss Draws
Walter Hellman lived from 1916 to 1975.
The world of checkers welcomed another
great board player when Walter F. Hellman
was born June 15, 1916, in Gamla Nordsjö,
Nordmaling, Sweden.
When Walter Hellman was ten years old, his
family moved to Gary, Indiana, and the young
boy was exposed to this unique board game
of checkers. However, in 1931, at the age
of fifteen, Walter Hellman first entered
and won a Gary City chess tournament, but
later, it was here that Walter actually began
his checkers game career. As with numerous
chess players, checkers was often a game
of choice as well because it offered a different
playing field from chess. Hellman’s
interest in checkers was quickly piqued and
soon he began studying the plays. It would
certainly appear that he possessed a natural
ability for the simple complexities inherent
within a checkers game because he displayed
a knack for the strategies of board play
and won his first Indiana State Tournament
in 1933 at the age of seventeen.
Walter Hellman continued to develop his checkers
game wins loss and draw skills and intuition
as is evidenced by his amazing checkers record
during his later youth and early adulthood.
In the 8th American tournament in 1934 held
at Jamestown, New York, Hellman placed
10th in the masters’ level
at a young age of 18. Three years later,
in the 9th American tournament of 1937 held
at Martins Ferry, Ohio, Walter Hellman placed
third in the checkers match behind Asa Long
and Willie Ryan.
During the next couple of years, Walter
Hellman proceeded to play checkers locally,
continually developing his board techniques,
and as a result was successful in the second
NCA American tournament played at Tacoma,
Washington, by taking second place, next
to Willie Ryan.
In 1946, Hellman entered and won the eleventh
ACA American tournament held at Nashville,
Tennessee, and also the third NCA American
tournament played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Two years later, in 1948, Walter defeated
Asa Long with a wins loss draws score of
two wins, one loss, and forty-seven draws
to become the new World Checkers Champion.
During the 1949 World Title Match, Walter
Hellman was winning this 40-game match
with three wins, no losses, and twenty-three
draws at one point in the game, and then
later with four winds, one loss, and twenty-five
draws, but Willie Ryan was able to pull from
his bag of checkers magic tricks to make
a magnificent comeback with two games to
go. In the last game, with the strong side
of a weak opening, Hellman slipped into a
difficult position, but with the World Championship
at stake, he turned it around and played
his best game of the match, which was truly
a defensive masterpiece. After this game,
the match went into an overtime of ten more
games, thus turning it into a 50-game match.
All ten games were draws, although Ryan played
into a published loss (perhaps with an improvement
in mind), which Hellman failed to punish.
The tournament book has the names backward,
although labeling them "White" and "Black" correctly.
It also has the diagram labeled incorrectly,
but this didn't change the outcome wins loss
draws of the checkers tournament match between
W. F. Ryan and Walter Hellman. Hellman tied
Willie Ryan with an equal score of four wins,
four losses, and forty-two draws to successfully
retain his World Checkers Championship title.
Then, in 1951, Walter Hellman was again
successful in maintaining his World title
status by defeating Maurice Chamblee in the
checkers World Championship Match by a score
of six wins, one loss, and twenty-nine draws.
Later, in the 18th ACF American tournament
at Ocean City, Maryland, after winning a
round over Asa Long, Walter withdrew after
eight rounds undefeated to accept third place
behind Basil Case and Asa Long. This move
assured that Walter Hellman would be a clear
contender for the 1953 World Championship
Title match in checkers. During this tournament,
Walter defeated Basil Case with a wins loss
draws score of 4-1-33 to retain the coveted
World Checkers Title.
In the 1955 World Checkers Championship
match, Walter Hellman lost to the great master,
Marion Tinsley, with an end score of no wins,
three losses, and thirty-five draws. The
following year, Hellman played in the 1956
Galveston, Texas, American tournament and
finished second to Tinsley; he was successful
in defeating Newell Banks, Harold Freyer,
and other checkers notables at the 21st American
tournament held at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
It was only after Marion Tinsley’s
retirement from checkers that Walter Hellman
returned to play in World title matches in
the checkers games arena. In 1962, Hellman
tied Asa Long with an ending score of two
wins, two losses, and thirty-six draws, and
then in the 1963 checkers championship match,
Hellman again won over Basil Case with a
victory score of two wins, one loss, and
thirty-seven draws to retain the checkers
World Championship title.
During the following year, Walter Hellman
was still going strong and played a decisive
checkers game using great board techniques
as he defeated Don Lafferty in the 1964 Rockford,
Illinois American tournament. Then he proceeded
to defeat the British Champion, Derek Oldbury,
with a wins loss draws score of seven wins,
one loss, and twenty-seven draws in the 1965
checkers World Championship match to attain
the title once more.
In 1967, Walter Hellman played a wonderful
checkers match against Eugene Frazier, which
ended with a resounding score of five wins,
no losses, and thirty-one draws, in what
would be his final World Championship title
match.
Walter Hellman continued to play in the
checkers circuit over the next few years
and still possessed a winning streak as he
defeated Everett Fuller in the 1972 American
tournament held at Memphis, Tennessee. His
final appearance in the checkers arena was
when Hellman played on the U.S. checkers
team in the third International Match between
the U.S. and Great Britain at Bouremouth,
England. During this tournament match he
retired undefeated after 3 rounds so that
he could visit his sister in their family
home in Sweden.
Walter Hellman, a great checkers master, passed
away on July 28, 1975 in Panama City, Florida,
at the young age of 59. However, like many
champions before him, he left behind a remarkable
legacy to the world of checkers.
Hellman played a great board game of checkers
in ten American, U.S. Open, tournaments between
1934 and 1972, of which he was successful
in winning five of them through solid, strategic
play. More importantly, however, Walter Hellman
was a challenger/contender in nine checkers
World Championship Title Matches between
the years of 1948 and 1967. Walter Hellman
was the longest reigning world checkers champion
ever. He held the title from 1948 until 1955,
and then again, from 1955 until 1975. During
these nine matches, Walter Hellman won the
title six times, tied for the title in two
matches, and only lost one world title match
in 1955 to Marion Tinsley. This, indeed,
is a wonderful achievement and legacy to
leave behind as one of the world’s
leading wins loss draws checkers masters.
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