|
|
Champion
Asa Long
and Checkers
Checkers Champion Asa Long and checkers games he played from 1904 to 1999.
Another prominent checker star, who joined
the checkers circuit in the 1920’s
was Asa A. Long. He was born in Antwerp,
Ohio, on August 20, 1904. Later, his family
moved to Toledo, Ohio, which was where he
resided during his adult life.
Asa first became interested in the game
of checkers around the age of twelve by playing
a series of friendly checkers games with
his father and then later on, he joined the
Toledo checker club. In 1920, at age 16,
Asa Long entered the Ohio State Checkers
Tournament, which he won by defeating Guy
Garwood in the finals.
During this year, he also entered his first
U.S. Open tournament, which was held at Cedar
Point, Ohio. Although he failed to qualify
for the masters, Asa Long still managed
to defeat several recognized experts such
as H.B. Reynolds, Andrew Dossett, and Ralph
D Banks.
Asa Long continued to study the game of checkers
and practice his skills against other players
in the club. In 1921, he played a 20-game
exhibition match at Cedar Point against the
English Champion, Alfred Jordan. Asa Long
lost the match with a score of one win, three
losses, and sixteen draws, but he did not
let this loss undermine his determination
to play an even better game of checkers with
technique and subtle strategies. If anything,
the defeat helped him to focus on improving
his board skills and mastering better moves.
As a result of Asa Long’s resolute
desire to hone his checker skills, he won
the Ohio State Tournament again in 1922 at
the age of 18. Here Asa Long defeated his
high school classmate Mike Lieber in the
finals.
Later that same year, Asa Long traveled to
Boston to play in the 5th U.S. Open checker
tournament. Although he lost his game to
Louis Ginsburg, Asa came back to defeat checker
master, Alfred Jordan, twice. Here, 18 year
old, Asa Long, shocked the checker world
by winning the 5th National Tournament and
taking the title from Jordan. This was a
phenomenal achievement for an eighteen year
old, and Asa Long was the youngest record
to win this checkers tournament. This record
still stands today. No one younger than Asa
has ever taken the U.S. Open title.
In 1923, Asa Long was matched against
the 1920 U.S. Champion, John F Horr, in
a 40-game match, which was organized in
an attempt to determine the soundness of
the 4-barred openings to be played by forced
ballot. Horr had the advantage in this
checkers game because he was a recognized
authority on these openings, and the result
was that he defeated Long by a score of
four games, one loss, and thirty-five draws.
However, for every game he played, Asa
Long logged the strategies and the moves
in his alert mind for later use on the
checkerboard.
Unfortunately, Long was not able to enter
the 1924 6th U.S. Open checkers tournament
because of his educational commitments, and
did not play competitive checkers until his
part as a team member of the U.S. Team in
the 1927 2nd International Match against
Great Britain. Here, Asa Long tied Sam Gonotsky’s
first place finish with thirteen wins, but
he also lost three games, while drawing twenty-four.
However, his showing still indicated a strong
gaming skill in checkers that he continued
to develop in his free time. Like many other
counterparts in this mind sport, Asa Long
was intrigued by the competitive edge of
checkers and the ever-changing environment
that often led to surprise wins and losses
at the checker-board.
Two years later, Asa Long entered the 7th
U.S. Open in 1929, which was again held at
Cedar Point, and once more he was successful
in his checkerboard skills by defeating Basil
Case, Nathan Rubin, and Louis Ginsberg in
the finals. The result was another nice checkers
win of his second U.S. Open without a single
loss of a game.
The following article was written as a commentary
on the checkers tournament.
Piddlers
Monday, Aug. 26, 1929
Article Tools
“A solemn group
of sportsmen spent last week sitting in pairs
at tables in Cedar Point, Ohio, propelling
cylindrical pellets about checkered rectangles,
making them sally, mingle, jump one another,
then inching them ignominiously back to safe
corners. Officials fumed impotently. For
20 hours, four of the most potent contenders
in the National Checker Championship piddled
thus, played 32 drawn games. Came official
threats to limit to 20 the number of games
two players could draw without penalty. In
the finals, after six draws, Asa Long of
Toledo, Ohio, conquered 16-time drawer Louis
C. Ginsberg of Brooklyn, N. Y.
Checkerman Long, 24-year-old
telegraph clerk, has long been a checker
prodigy. At 15 he watched a national tournament
knowingly, critically. Irritated, national
contenders challenged him to play. He beat
them. Two years later he won the U. S. Championship.
Two years ago he was on a team, which defeated
English invaders. Lacking competition in
Toledo, he plays by mail with far-off experts.
Once he had a postal game with an Australian
which lasted more than a year, ended in a
draw.”
Five years passed
but then in 1934, he defeated checker great,
Newell Banks, in a 40-game match played
in Detroit, Michigan, with a score of seven
wins, three losses, and twenty-seven draws.
This was the first time that a tournament
match had been played in the checker style
with a 3-Move Restriction and Asa Long
won the World Title in this type of checker
play.
Two years later, champion Asa Long defended
his championship title in West Palm Beach,
Florida, by defeating the 8th U.S. Open winner, Edwin
Hunt, with a score of three wins, one
loss, and thirty-five draws. Champion Asa
Long continued on a winning streak in checkers
when, in 1937, he won the 9th U.S. Open in
Martins Ferry, Ohio. Here champion Asa defeated
checker notables, Walter
Hellman, Willie Ryan,
Ken Grover, and Harold Freyer in a tedious
10-round double knockout tournament. During
this tournament, champion Asa Long was nicknamed
as the “Iron
Man with Iron Lines” in the world of
checkers.
Another two years passed in checkers history,
but then champion Asa Long returned to the
checker scene and checkerboard to once again
take the reigns by defeating his opponents
in the 10th U.S. Open in Flint, Michigan.
Here he challenged and beat other checker
contenders Lewis, Freyer, and in the finals,
Grover, to win the tournament.
But then another period of checker inactivity
in checkers champion Asa Long’s life
took place. Finally, however, after an absence
of six years from the checkers community,
Asa entered the 22nd U.S. Open hosted at
Eau Claire, Wisconsin; however, he was leaving
a lot to chance to his checkers ability because
he was a contender with very little practice
or preparation.
At first, Asa was very successful by winning
five rounds, but then he drew his match against
Lloyd Taylor in round six. In round seven,
Asa then won over Milton Apel, but in a shocking
upset, he lost his next two rounds to Milton
Loew. This did indeed indicate that being
prepared was the way to go because Milton
had prepared for this tournament with several
weeks of hard practice in games against such
checkers champions as Edwin Hunt and Don
Lafferty.
Later, champion Asa Long challenged Milton
Loew for the champion title, but Loew declined
to challenge his position, so Long exercised
his option as runner-up and played a classic
40-game match against Walter Hellman held
at St. Petersburg, Florida. The result of
the match was a tie with two wins each and
thirty-six draws. In previous title matches,
a 10-game overtime was usually played in
the event of a tie, but here Asa Long decided
that forty games was enough, and the result
left Hellman still retaining his title.
Following this match, champion Asa Long seemed
to have stepped into another long period
of checker inactivity as likely other aspects
of his life took greater precedence, but
then at the young age of 69, Asa agreed to
play as a checkers member on the U.S. Team
in the International Match against Great
Britain in 1973. This checkers gathering
of champions was held at Bournemouth, England.
Even then Asa Long displayed a winning checker
technique and his legendary skill by winning
seven games, acquiring no losses, and drawing
only thirteen games. This international match
of quality checker play reawakened and rekindled
his checkers passion. The result of this
new interest in the game of checkers was
that the next year, Asa entered the 1974
U.S. Open held at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This tournament hosted a stellar field of
checkers champions, against whom Asa was
ready to match skill and enthusiasm. Unfortunately,
however, Asa drew several rounds and then
lost a memorable heat to Leo Levitt, with
the end result that he finished in fifth
place behind the checkers champions of Marion,
Derek, Leo Levitt and Don Lafferty.
But then immediately following this tournament,
Asa Long played in the U.S. 11-man ballot tournament,
which he won, and then went on during the next
year to win over Ken Grover for the World 11-Man
Checkers Game Title.
To Continue with Asa Long, Click Here
|
|
