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Champions of the
20th Century
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
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Checkers Champion Sam Levy
1914-1938
Another checkers/draughts player who excelled in the game during the early 20th century but did not live a long life to enjoy it to its fullest was Samuel Levy. He was born in Manchester, England, in 1914. He resided in the surrounding area until his early demise.
Sam learned some checkers skills fairly early but didn’t actually become seriously interested in the game until around 1933. When he joined the checkers circuit, he was, of course, a relative unknown at the checkerboard, but it did not take the young long to acquire a real technique and mastery of the checkers game. In fact, his skill was so apparent that he actually advanced to the finals of the English Championships in 1934. This achievement was absolutely amazing because not many would be able to make such a phenomenal move in such a short time.
Levy honed his checkers play as a member of the Manchester Draughts (Checkers) Club team, and through this association, Sam he met well renowned Internationalist, Harry Moulding. They soon developed a good relationship that extended beyond checkers into a solid friendship. At the same time, Moulding became Sam’s colleague and mentor.
Apart from his involvement in the checkers club, Levy also participated in the mind sport in league play and as a member of the checker teams of Manchester, Warrington and Liverpool in 1934, 1935 and 1936, consecutively. Moreover, Sam displayed his skill very successfully against his opponents, who were, amongst the checkers experts, Leonard Claxton, Harry French, Harry Moulding, Sam Cohen, and George O’Connor. Sam certainly associated with some of Britain’s best players of that period.
Another crown checker achievement for Sam Levy was in winning the English Draughts (Checker) Championship in 1936. Sam Cohen came second in the scoring and George O’Connor scored in third place. Furthermore, Sam’s checkerboard strategies and analytical prowess helped him to also win the British Championship.
Then in 1937, he played a 40-game match against Sam Cohen for the World 2-Move Championship title. Levy always played aggressively to win his checkers games, and was constantly looking for new plays and improvements of old checker plays. This trait certainly assisted his play to win the Championship title by defeating Cohen.
In a quest for improvement in checkers board play, Levy became a student of the new 3-Move Restriction style, which was called The American Restriction by the British. Sam quickly became equally engrossed in this type of checkers play and developed some good skills as well.
After his match with Cohen, he challenged Asa Long to a match at the new 3-Move Restriction for the World’s Championship of this new style of play. Levy believed that he had a good chance at defeating Asa at the checkerboard in this new method of play and was not in the least intimidated by the great American checker player.
Samuel Levy was certainly prepared to come to the U.S. to play against Asa Long and arrangements were well under way when Levy suddenly developed appendicitis. He was treated and was seemingly recuperating from his illness, when suddenly peritonitis set in. He did not recover from this attack but died unexpectedly in 1938.
Samuel Levy had become a fine checker player during his short career in the sport, and it can only be hypothesized that he may actually have been one of the greatest draughts/checkers players to hail from England. Unfortunately, Sam never had the opportunity to reach his full potential as a world class checker champion but had indeed still achieved a lot at the age of 24, and still left a legacy behind for others to experience.
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CHECKERS CHEST
Two Player