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Champions of the
20th Century 1st International Match The International |
Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma
Harm Wiersma was born in 1953 in Leeuwarden, in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. His father, Chris Wiersma, was a checkers player, who introduced his son to the world of the checkerboard when Harm was in 1961 when Harm was nine years old by taking him to play with the youth in the Leeuwarden Checkers Club during 1963-64. Then in 1964, when the Leeuwarden Club joined with Gezellig Samenzijn to form a new club, De Oldehove Checkers Club, the Wiersmas moved to the Huizum Checkers Club. The young Wiersma contested the checkers youth championship of Friesland in 1963 when he was 10 years old and concluded the tournament with an excellent placement for his inexperience and age, which was 4th place behind Sjoerd Visser, Henk Bos and Gerrit Ybema. Then in 1965, Harm placed 1st and 2nd in 1966. It quickly became obvious that the young checker player had an innate sense and intuition when playing at the checkerboard. Wiersma also won the Netherlands Youth Championship in checkers around the same time. In 1965, 1966 and 1968, Chris Wiersma and Anton Schotanus organized the International Turkstra tournaments in the Tivoli Hall. Harm placed first in the youth division in 1965, but in 1966, Anton Schotanus won the youth and Ton Sijbrands placed 2nd in the seniors division; however, Harm did not finish well and was disappointed in his 8th place. The young Dutch checkers novice was developing skills and individual techniques in the game and soon began to display a greater mastery at the checkerboard. In 1967, Harm participated in the Netherlands National Championship in the Seniors Division, along with experienced checkerists like Piet Roozenburg and another young developing checker player, Ton Sijbrands, who was only seventeen at the time. At thirteen, Wiersma displayed his inherent talent at the checkerboard against his opponents and where he lacked experience, Harm made up for it in tenacity and concentration. 1967 Netherlands National Checkers Championship ~ Utrecht/Apeldoorn
During the same year, Harm and Ton participated in the International Match between the Russian and Netherlands checkers teams, wherein the Soviets defeated the Dutch team with a final score of 40 to 20. As well, the young Wiersma also won the title for the Friesland Seniors Championship in 1967 and would win this checkers tournament and place 1st through to 1974. In 1968, Harm was not allowed to participate in the National Championship of the Netherlands because he had broken some rules during the World Championship in Bolzano, Italy, earlier on and exclusion from the checkers national tournament was his father’s ‘punishment’ for his actions. The newspaper reports stated that Chris Wiersma’s actions or decision to keep his son out of the checkers play was perhaps a little ‘rash’ or even presumptuous on his part. Harm was not yet 15 at the time. He did, however, contest in the Turkstra competion and placed first.
That same year in 1968, Wiersma earned the title of International master or MI and then in 1970 Harm became the youngest in the world to achieve the title of national Grandmaster in checkers, GMN and later, GMI, International Grandmaster. The following year, the Dutch Grandmaster participated in the 1971 National checkers tournament, but placed fifth based on point accumulation. Ton Sijbrands won first place and the Netherlands Championship title; however, in 1972 Harm Wiersma won the national checkers tournament and became Champion of the Netherlands in International draughts. He would repeat his winning performance in 1974 through to 1977 and then again in 1992, 1998 and 2001. Wiersma also held the title of Student Champion in the Netherlands in 1972. Harm was a member of the Huizum Checkers Club and played the mind sport through this club for nine years. After the National Championship in Apeldoorn in 1974 where he placed 1st, Harm moved to a checkers club in Tilburg (DAVO). During his early checkers career, Harm participated in numerous checkers competitions at the local, National, and International levels. Vignettes from 1972 to 1978
European Checkers TournamentHarm Wiersma participated in the Suikertoernooi in Amsterdam and joined the checkers arena and field of experienced masters of the checkerboard, but displayed his strategies to his advantage and tied for first place with Ton Sijbrands.   Anatoli Gantwarg vs Harm Wiersma Suikertoernooi Amsterdam in 1970 Ton Sijbrands looks on. During this checkers competition, Wiersma had an opportunity to meet with and play against Senegalese Grandmaster, Baba Sy, after ten years had passed since Harm faced Baba Sy as a checkers opponent in 1963. There was also time for a cultural exchange as Baba Sy displayed and sold African necklaces from his home country. From 1970 through to 1977, Harm faced the Senegalese master across the checkerboard several times, as well as Mamina N’Diaye, the first African checkers player from Mali to enter the checkers circuit in 1975.
(A) From left to right, 1963 ~ Harm Wiersma vs Baba Sy; 197 ~ 0 Harm & Baba looking at B’s wares; 1972 ~ Ton Sijbrands vs Harm Wiersma, Suikertoernooi (B) 1972 ~ Harm vs Carl ‘Buster’ Smith, USA; 1973 ~ Baba Sy vs Harm Wiersma; 1975 ~ Harm vs Baba (C) 1975 ~ Harm vs Vladimir Agafonov; 1975 ~ Harm vs Jan de Ruiter; 1977 ~ Wiersma vs Baba Sy; 1977. (1) & (2) ~ Harm Wiersma vs Mamina N’Diaye Apart from a regular game of checkers facing an opponent’s strategies on a one-on-one basis, Harm Wiersma also favoured playing simultaneous games in much the same way as Jannes van der Wal and Ton Sijbrands. He enjoyed playing this style of competitive checkers as often as possible and was always seeking new competitors in order to obtain the highest possible result. Harm was challenged to improve his score with each simultaneous checkers match that was played. In 1975, Wiersma improved on Ton Sijbrand’s record by playing against 187 opponents in one sitting.    Wiersma improves on Sijbrand’s simultaneous record at Hierden 1975. |
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More From the Checkers Chest |
| Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma 1 | Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma 2 | Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma 3 |
| Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma 4 | Checkers Champion Harm Wiersma 5 |
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