Alex Moiseyev won the 2008 “Gene Lindsay” 3-move National Tournament over Ron King in a tournament that came down to the last game (8th round match ended up in 4 draws). Richard Hallett was third on honor points. Top prize was $1520, and total prize fund was approx. $8800. Phil Schwartzberg won the Majors in a close three-way race with Jimmy O’Grady and Gilbert Cisneros. Corey Modich won both the Minors division and the “older youth” title at the youth tournament that preceded the National. Colton Cardie successfully defended his “younger youth” title. Kim Willis won the U.S. Ladies Title, finishing two placements ahead of Wilma Wolverton in Majors. (See ACF forum for complete standings in Tournament Discussion.) The youth tournament was held at the Las Vegas Plaza Hotel, and the National Tournament was held at the Vegas Club. A "50 select games" package will be prepared. Bids for the 2009 GAYP National are being sought until December 31 of this year.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Alex Moiseyev defeated Tim Laverty 5-0 with 7 draws in a head-to-head match to claim the vacant 11-man Ballot World Title. The match was held in Albermarle, North Carolina over 4th of July weekend with J.R. Smith as referee. Tim Laverty won the 11-man ballot National Open Tournament in Albemarle in January, with Alex finishing 2nd. A booklet of the match games is being prepared and is limited to 40 copies. Copies may be ordered through JR Smith or on-line through ACF store/Donations/11-man Ballot. See ACF forum General Discussion for more match details.nnOther news: The US National 3-move tournament will start Monday, July 21 at the Vegas Club. The National youth tournament will be played July 19 & 20 at the Las Vegas Plaza Hotel (3rd floor).nnThe GAYP world title match between Lubabalo Kondlo and Ron King will take place in Medina, Ohio on Sept. 8-13 in conjuntion with the Ohio Tournament the preceding weekend. A ladies GAYP world title match between Jan Mortimer and Amangul Durdyeva is still pending, but discussions continue to be in progress.nnA new "World Checkers Open" event by Pursuits America is planned for this November at Myrtle Beach. See calendar at left for more details.nn

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

The previously advertised room rates were $55 (Fri-Sat) and $48 (Sun.-Thurs.). The real room rates are $55 (plus tax, Fri & Sat.) and $29 (plus tax, Sun.-Thurs.). The “$48” was provided for budgeting purposes to assist with the playing room costs (as was done last year). These are still excellent rates for a strip hotel. There is a $15 per weekday differential for players. So, players will need to provide an additional $75 per player at registration, as the hotel will not collect this for us. Any non-playing guests with separate rooms will only have to pay $29 plus tax for weekdays.

Gerry Lopez has bargained good rates for us, and he was the only one who offered a National bid. Gerry tells me this will be his last Las Vegas bid, so please consider supporting what will probably conclude the “Las Vegas era” in checkers.

Regarding the call-in number 1-800-634-6575, note that the Plaza Hotel handles the room reservations for the Vegas Club, which does not have their own reservations line (same owner for both hotels).

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Tim Laverty wins 11-man ballot National held in Albemarle North Carolina, Jan. 31-Feb. 2. Also winning trophies were Alex Moiseyev (2nd), Teal Stanley (3rd) and Mike Ross (4th). See www.nccheckers.org for full results and pictures. Tim Laverty and Alex Moiseyev will play for the vacant 11-man ballot World Title Match later in 2008 in North Carolina. Donations are needed for the match to cover travel expenses for the participants. (A store button has been added under the donations menu)

John Webster wins 2008 Tennessee Open. Jan Bulstra won Majors, and Harvey Powell won the Minors.

One announcement change on the Las Vegas National that affects those in Masters division who will be traveling.... Masters will finish on Friday, July 25, instead of Saturday the 26th. See announcement in ACF calendar for more details.

New to ACF Store:
Cannings Compilation (under Books page);
Prague 2005 (Games of 2005 Qualifying Tournament) by Jim Loy;
Vegas 2007 (Games of 2007 National & Qualifying Tournaments) by Jim Loy;
Barbados 2004 (Games of 1st International GAYP Match with U.S.) by Jim Loy;
(the latter three are found under Game Transcripts, bottom of page)

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

World (3 Move) Qualification Tournament:
There was no bid received to host this event. The Executive Board is therefore nominating the 1st World Mind Sports Games, being held in Beijing, China, from 13 to 17 October as the QT for 2008. If the current World (3 Move) Champions’ Alex Moiseyev and Amangul Durdyeva were to enter and win this event, the next highest available player(s) will be endorsed as the official challenger(s). There will not be a youth event held there as the games are open to adult participants only.

Ron King (Barbados) Vs Lubabulo Kondlo (SA)
Following the receipt of a single bid for the hosting of this match it was agreed that the World GAYP Championship Match will be held at Medina, OH, USA from 8th -13th September 2008.

Amangul Durdyeva (Turkmenistan) Vs Jan Mortimer (NZ)
There was no bid received for hosting this Women’s World GAYP Match. In accordance with the WCDF Byelaws it is now the responsibility of the challenger, Jan Mortimer, to make a bid for this match.

On behalf of the WCDF I would wish to take this opportunity to wish you, your families and friends, a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2008.

Sincerely:
Hugh Devlin
WCDF President.

Amangul Durdyeva won her match against defending champ Patricia Breen 8-2 with 6 draws to win the ladies 3-move world title held in Ireland. Alex Moiseyev won the men’s Irish Open tournament.

A new 11-man Ballot National Tournament, in honor of Elbert Lowder, will be held Jan 31- Feb 3 in Albemarle, North Carolina, Elbert’s hometown. See ACF Calendar and www.nccheckers.org calendar for details. Please consider supporting this new event.

Bids are being sought for the following 2008 events: 3-move ACF National tournament (bids due Dec. 31), WCDF World 3-move Qualifying Tournament, Kondlo-King GAYP title match, and Mortimer-Durdyeva GAYP title match.

Two ACF Store book notes: John Cardie’s new book “How to Beat Granddad at Checkers” has been added. Alex Moiseyev is now offering a discounted rate ($10 off) for Sixth for regular or personalized copy.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Please check your computers. Sometime yesterday the ACF forum was attacked and a javascript file was injected into several of the forums pages. I don't know what time exactly.
When I checked the forums page this morning, the page would not display because my firewall was blocking it. When I looked into it, some of the pages on the forum had a script tag that was not supposed to be there.
This happened at some point yesterday as the backups from early in the morning on the 9th were fine.

The forum is fixed now, but anyone that has visited the forum yesterday, please run a virus scanner on your computer. I don't know what the script did and its possible that nothing happened, but this is just to be on the safe side.

You can run a free scan online here http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
or you can download a free virus scanner program (called AVG) here
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

I apologize for any problems this may have caused.

28th September 2007


The process of establishing a match between defending World Champion (3 move restriction) Alex Moiseyev (USA) and challenger Ron “Suki” King (Barbados) began last year following the conclusion of the World Qualifying Tournament held in Scotland during July 2006. No bids were received at the closing date for bids (1st October 2006) to host this important match. The WCDF Executive Board agreed to extend the closing date for bids until 1st January 2007. Ron King announced his intention to submit a bid to host this proposed match in Barbados but no bid was made prior to this date. The Executive Board of the WCDF agreed to a further deadline to 1st July 2007 to allow for fresh bids to be submitted.

Two bids were received on this date, one from Barbados and the other from the USA. The two bids were similar in the conditions they offered. Following consultation the WCDF awarded the winning bid to Barbados. The bid proposed to host the match at the Frank Collymore Hall, Central Bank, Bridgetown, Barbados, from Sunday 30th September – 10th October 2007. An integral part of that bid was that airline flights would be provided to both World Champion Alex Moiseyev (USA) and WCDF official referee Alan Millhone (USA) to bring them to Barbados for the match. Details of names, addresses, telephone numbers and proposed departure dates were provided by these individuals. Their departure from the USA was scheduled for today, but for some reason no airline tickers have arrived. There has been no correspondence received by myself, Alex Moiseyev, or Alan Millhone from Barbados prior to this morning concerning any problems or requesting any postponements.

In view of this situation, and that Alex Moiseyev and Alan Millhone had made considerable changes in their personal, family, and work commitments in anticipation of departing for Barbados today, the WCDF have ruled that the Barbados bidders have defaulted on their commitments. The WCDF have no option but to cancel the match and rule that Ron “Suki” King has lost his right to challenge for the World Championship (3 move restriction) title for this cycle. No further bid is being sought.

This occurrence is unprecedented in the history of World Championship Matches and we apologise to those concerned that have worked hard to bring this match about.

Yours Sincerely:
Hugh Devlin. WCDF President

Congratulations to Jan Mortimer (New Zealand) and Lubabalo Kondalo (South Africa) on their recent successes at the World Qualifying Tournaments held at Las Vegas, USA 17th-21st September 2007. It proved to be a double success for the southern hemisphere. Also congratulations to Colton Cardie (USA) on becoming the WCDF under 18 World Youth GAYP Champion.
We now have three major events to look forward to next year. These are:

World GAYP Championship Match 2008
Ron King (Barbados) Vs Lubabalo Kondalo (South Africa)

Women’s World GAYP Championship Match 2008
Amangul Durdyeva (Turkmenistan) Vs Jan Mortimer (New Zealand)

World (3 move restriction) Qualifying Tournament 2008
Overall, Women’s and Youth events.

According to the WCDF byelaws all bids for next year’s events should have been made prior to 1st July 2007 but owing to the dates of this year’s QT the date has been extended until Saturday 1st December 2007. I would like to ask all affiliated organisations to consider making a bid for the hosting of one of these important events for 2008. All bids should be sent to John Reade, Secretary, WCDF before 1st December 2007 after which a further announcement will be made regarding the awarding of event bids.

Yours Sincerely:

Hugh Devlin. President.

WCDF has awarded the 3-Move World Title Match between Alex Moiseyev (champion) and Ron King (challenger) to Barbados. Match will be held September 30 through October 10. A bid for Medina, Ohio was also submitted. Match Contributions may be sent to: Richard Beckwith, 34490 Ridge Road #115, Willoughby, OH 44094-3035 USA. Also, Paypal users may donate on-line at ACF Store/Donations/Men's World Championship on this site.

Books recently added to ACF store:
Play Winning Checkers, 101 Checker Puzzles, Little Giant Encyclopedia of Checker Puzzles (all by R. Pike), The Magical Checker Play of Elbert Lowder (Loy) and pre-orders for 2007 World Qualifying Tournament games by Alex Moiseyev (under Store/Game Transcripts).

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Check out this article to get a perspective about Las Vegas. The ACF GAYP Nationals are in Las Vegas again this year. If you're thinking of attending the Nationals, but have never been to Vegas, this article can give some first hand advice.
Las Vegas Impressions

The election results for 2007 are in Alan has sent me the official results for the 2007 ACF Offices.
You can find the officers here: 2007 Officers
You can find the district managers here: 2007 District Managers
Official Results

Submitted by :Alan Millhone

Jim Loy, ACF Bulletin editor, has completed a 90-page booklet of the 2005 ACF International Mail tournament with much annotation. Booklets may be ordered through Jim Loy for $15 ($17 outside U.S.), and this item will be added to ACF store.

Alex Moiseyev has finished his outstanding work on the 50 Select Games from the 2006 US National. The layout is currently undergoing the “final touches,” and the games will be distributed soon.

ACF nominations are still very much needed (as announced in Nov. 7 article below; see also President's Corner). Now both the secretary and treasurer positions are open for next term, as Mac Banks and Don Brattin do not seek re-election.

The WCDF also needs soon a bid for the 2007 3-move match between Ron King and Alex Moiseyev.

Sad news -- Checker legend Elbert Lowder passed away on December 14th. More news and thoughts in ACF forum.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Ron King of Barbados successfully defended his World GAYP Title beating Jim Morrison of Kentucky by a score of 3-0 and 18 draws. The match was held December 4-9 at the International Checker Hall of Fame in Petal, MS. The match was sanctioned by WCDF and refereed by Alan Millhone. Special thanks goes to Deloris Walker for the accommodations and for keeping everyone well fed. Prize fund, split 60/40, was $3740, which came from Oldbury fund and donations by V. Niederhoffer, R. Beckwith, A. Millhone, and S. L Green. (Additional comments and daily reports may be found in the ACF forum under "General Discussion.")

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

The Ron King - Jim Morison match has been postponed a week until December 4-9. This delay, done under WCDF supervision, was done to affordably obtain a flight out of Barbados away from a peak travel time.

Dennis Pawlek is inviting biography submissions for an on-line directory of checker players. (I have sent mine to him.) Dennis may be reached at DennisPawlek@lycosxxl.de with responses. The topics to respond to are the following:

1. Full name
2. Date of birth
3. Nationality
4. Residence
5. Best achievements in checkers
6. A picture of yourself
7. Two of your best games (the best one of each color)
8. An article about your checker career

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

The 2006 ACF National Tournament “Select” games is near complete, except for final review and printing. From the preview I have seen, the work by Alex Moiseyev (who donated countless hours of his time) is outstanding and is similar to the presentation of “Sixth.” These games have been added to ACF Store under Game transcripts, or may be ordered through Alan Millhone. The 8th International Match book is also expected soon.

This is also a reminder for ACF members to send in your dues if your membership expires during the winter months. Full adult membership in U.S. is $25. (See October bulletin for more detail.) Dues may be sent to ACF treasurer, listed under ACF Info menu, or purchased through ACF Store.

Nominations are needed for the ACF next election. Nominations may be sent to the election chairman, Gene Ellison, at Ellison@clearwave.com through Dec. 31. Please be sure your nominee (if not yourself) is willing to serve. National Tournament bids for the 2007 GAYP also need to be submitted by the end of the year to Alan Millhone.

My thanks goes to Jason Solan and Ryan Pronk for many recent site updates, including ACF store updates, tournament results, and (coming soon) a WCDF page for 2007 Qualifier news. Lastly, I have just updated the ACF ratings, which includes those events submitted through District 4 Tournament.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

The American Checker Federation has won the WCDF bid to host the 2007 World GAYP Qualifier Tournament in Las Vegas. Tentative dates are September 17-21 (Mon-Fri.), with Friday being reserved in case a playoff is needed. We plan to host men’s, women’s, and youth event. Donations may be sent to Kim Willis (31 Sandstone Rd., Eldon, MO, 65026), who has set up an account for this tournament. (Thanks Kim!) The winner of the men’s and ladies tournaments will earn the right to challenge for the world title. The event will also decide a World Youth Champion.

Non-ACF federations may send two players, provided federation has WCDF membership in good standing. We anticipate a financial kickback to assist with meals and lodging, etc.

See the ACF Calendar and Player’s Rep Corner Archives for additional commentary.
More info will be posted as it becomes available.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Remember the old days when tourney books were issued for each National Tournament? I am pleased to announce that our 3-move world champ, Alex Moiseyev, has graciously accepted to annotate the 2006 games package. He is already hard at work, and I know he will provide a high-quality publication with many diagrams. I posted a sample game on ACF forum under General Discussion to show typical level of annotations.

The 50 select games should be ready by the end of July. The all games package will be available later this year. For those who already made early-bird contributions to the 2006 National Prize Fund, the games will automatically be sent to you when available. For everyone else, you may order your copy by check to American Checker Federation sent to R. Beckwith, 34490 Ridge Road #115, Willoughby, OH 44094, or Paypal through ACF Store under Donation/ACF Donation. Suggested minimum donations, including shipping, are $15 (50 select games) or $35 for all submitted games (3 divisions & youth, pictures, and more). Add $5 extra for overseas.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Ron King, GAYP World Champion from Barbados, won the 2006 “Edward A. Bruch” ACF National Tournament by honor points over Alex Moiseyev and Richard Hallett. The tournament was held June 19-24 in Medina, Ohio at the Traveler’s Choice Hotel.
It was a close tournament from start to finish, with both Richard Hallett and Ed Bruch making serious runs at first place in the middle of the week.

Larry Pollard won the Majors group, coming from behind to edge Ryan Pronk. The Minors group was won by Patrick Parker. There were 18 entries in the Masters, and 12 entries in both Majors and Minors. Kim Willis was the highest finishing woman in the main tournament.

Nine youth participated in the weekend “Arthur Niederhoffer” youth tournament held June 17 & 18. The youth tournament was won by Ryan Pronk of Arizona, who won by 10 points. The younger division was won by Trey Stanley of North Carolina, who edged 7-year-old Alex Holmes.

Trophies were awarded to the top three finishers in all divisions. The total prize funds were approximately $825 for the youth tournament and $7300 for the main tournament.
All divisions played 8 rounds. Based on recent survey results, the Masters used traditional round scoring, but all other divisions scored by game.

Chuck Bowen, a local reporter, talked to many of the players early in the week. Kudos to his paper, The Gazette, for placing and article about the tournament in the Medina paper on Monday, June 19th. The article included front-page pictures of Trey & Erin Stanley, Alex Holmes, and Solomon Reece from the youth tournament. A pre-tournament article appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on June 17. Joe Schwartz also told me that the tournament was mentioned on the home page of Yahoo’s internet site during the week.

I acknowlede Victor Niederhoffer and the many other contributors (who will receive copies of games). Don Brattin, Leon Creek, and Kim Willis (youth event) served well as referees. Jim Loy provided a daily newsletter with standings, games, information about openings, etc. Thanks also go to Alan Millhone for providing scoresheets, clocks, and signs, and to John Webster for offering Medina 2006 ACF National Tournament shirts and hats. Steve Holliday brought in donuts one day and also provided much pre-tournament assistance. Alex Moiseyev brought in the trophies for me. Finally, thanks goes to the Traveler’s Choice Hotel for providing a free playing room, complimentary breakfast, and free coffee & water all week.

Several players visited the tournament, including Louis Cowie, Tony Kozenski, Terry Mazzocco, Vince Delong, Anker Studsgaard, and Jerry Jacobsen.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

The 2006 CHECKERS ANNUAL is ready for shipping on April 15, 2006: $25 in the USA and $30 for the rest of the world. It contains News about CHECKERS along with various articles and problems. [SORRY the 2005 Edition is SOLD OUT] ORDER from ICHF, Box 365 Petal, MS 39465.
Note: Overseas players may also order through John Reade, who should receive magazines in late April.

Richard Beckwith,
ACF Player Rep

Submitted by :ICHF

Jim Loy has provided me with a sample ACF bulletin to be freely distributed. If you are thinking of joining the ACF but are unsure of what the bulletin is like, you can now download a sample bulletin. The 2005 February ACF bulletin is now available in PDF format.

If you don't have a PDF viewer (adobe is typically used) you can download one here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Download February 2005 ACF Bulletin

Sincerely,
Jason Solan
ACF Webmaster

Hello ACF Members:

I was gone last week to Anderson,S.C. for the 2nd. week of the WCM between Mr. Alex and Mr. King. Got back late last night and found an email from Mr. Tim Laverty and his committee on election results.

President: Alan Millhone

1st. Vice President : Dr. John Webster

2nd. Vice President: Mr. Leon Creek

Secretary: Mr. Mac Banks

Treasurer: Mr. Don Brattin

District Managers:

First: Mr. Frank Freeman
Second: Mr. Francesco LaRocca
Third: Mr. Anthony Kozenski
Fourth: Mr. Larry Michael
Fifth: Mr. Frank Davis 1 vote
Mr. Dallas Ramsey 1 vote
Mr. Don Brattin 1 vote
Mr. Byron Woolum 1 vote
Mr. Larry Pollard 1 vote
Mr. Clayton Nash 1 vote

This six way tie will have to be decided by some type of 'run-off' type election if all listed are interested in serving the 5th. District. I will email my new Executive Committee over this week-end and see what they recommend.

Sixth: Mr. Roger Blaine
Seventh: Mr. Gary Hinerman
Eighth: Mr. Steve Graham
Ninth: Mr. John Gibson

Respectfully Submitted:
Mr. Tim Laverty

Sincerely: Alan Millhone, President, American Checker Federation " LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND"

Submitted by :Alan Millhone