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Checker Champion
Alexander Baljakin

Checker Champion
Alex Baljakin

Checkers Tournaments

Dutch Open
Checkers Championship

Chekcers In
Den Haag~The Hague,

Russian Champion
Checker Players

Not Gold, but Silver
Checker Champions

Noteworthy International
Checkers Players

21st International Festival
des Jeux and
Checkers Championships

Nijmegen Open International
Damtoernooi
Checkers Tournament

Checkers Champions
Balt Cup 2007

Checkers Champion
Iser Koeperman

Cannes International
Checkers Festival

Women's Checkers

Checkers Champion
Amangul Durdyev

Checkers Champion Iser Koeperman

1922-2006

Iser Josifovitsj Koeperman (Kuperman) was born in 1922 in Kiev, Ukraine, which was at that time part of the Soviet Union. Iser began playing checkers at the age of thirteen and quickly displayed a strong affinity for strategies on the checkerboard. By all accounts, Koeperman was a checkers prodigy, who by the age of 19 was already a champion player in the Soviet Union.
During his early checkers career, Iser won numerous tournaments and five national championship titles in Russia and was considered to be the strongest draughts/checkers player in the Soviet Union at that time.
Although he was an engineer by profession, his hobby and ‘second occupation’ was checkers and he spent a lot of time enjoying this career to its fullest.
Iser Koeperman was definitely a legendary figure in the checkers arena, for he paved the way for many young checkers players from the Soviet Union to cross into Western Europe to contest against high calibre opponents, specifically in the Netherlands.
In 1958, in his first World Championship challenge against Canadian Marcel Deslauriers, the reigning World Champion in International checkers, Iser was the also the first player from the Soviet Union to enter into the western sphere of ‘dammen’ and international competitive play.

Iser Koeperman ~ 1958 World Champion

The title match took place in Den Haag (The Hague) ~ Pulchri Studio in the Netherlands and the strategic play quickly established Koeperman’s checkerboard techniques that would gradually become a good representation of Iser’s personality.
During the match, the ‘new kid on the block’ or rather, checkers master from the Soviet Union displayed his unique and unfamiliar ‘offensive’ style of game play, which was quite a culture shock for the traditional checkerists at that time.
This championship match against Deslauriers subsequently resulted in a defeat for the Canadian master checkers player and the first World Championship title for Iser Koeperman. That same year the FMJD created the term ‘Grandmaster’ for top checkers players and after his display at the checkerboard, Iser was the first checkers master to be awarded this title of Grandmaster of International Draughts by the FMJD/WFDY in 1958.
Once Koeperman had entered the European checkers scene and opened the door between the East and West for other Russian checkerists such as Anatoli Gantwarg, Alexei Tsjizjov and Harm Wiersma in International tournaments and the World Championship, Iser immersed himself in many competitions.
In 1959, the Soviet Grandmaster defended his World Championship title in checkers against Geert van Dijk from the Netherlands and succeeded in defeating the challenger and thus retaining the World title.

Iser Koeperman vs Geert van Dijk 1959
The following year, Iser was back at the World Championship checkerboard defending his World title against various notable challengers. He defeated Freek Gordijn at the WC in Amsterdam, but was not able to master a final win against a fellow Russian, Wjatsjeslav “Slawa” Sjitsjogoljev, to maintain his title. In 1960 WC competition, Slawa defeated the defending Champion to win the World title.

Iser Koeperman
vs
Freek Gordijn

Wjatsjeslav Sjitsjogoljev
vs
Iser Koeperman

“Slawa” Sjitsjogoljev,
Baba Sy
and Iser Koeperman WC Haarlem, Netherlands
1960

Despite the World Championship defeat against his fellow Soviet player in 1960, Iser continued to play in local and national tournaments, all the while honing his individual style of checkers play and then he set out to regain the Championship title in 1961 by challenging ‘Slawa’ at the checkerboard yet again.
Though, of course, Iser played against other worthy opponents, the main checkers game was set against his arch-rival, Sjitsjogoljev. Once again, Koeperman’s offensive style of attack and checkers’ strategies were solid reasons for his successful championship win. Once again, he regained the World Championship title.

‘Slawa’ vs Iser WC 1961

Then two years later, Iser Koeperman was to defend his World title against Baba Sy of Senegal, but for reasons known only to the Soviet government officials, Koeperman, and perhaps some close friends, the match never took place because Iser did not show up for the competition. Iser had played against Baba Sy in the 1960 and looking back at the winning photos of the WC in Haarlem depicting Slawa, Baba Sy and Iser, there didn’t appear to be any obvious or apparent rationale for the controversy that took place two years later.
Over the years, there has been speculation and varying opinions, but the definitive reasons were never given. In some checkers world records, it still shows both Iser Koeperman and Baba Sy as the World Champions of 1963, but it wasn’t until 1986, that the FMJD awarded the World title to Baba Sy, posthumously.

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Checkers Champion Iser Koeperman

Iser Koeperman ~ 1958 World Champion

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