Hello

[Wavuti Uwepo]

Hello fellow checkerists. I am from Australia. I have only been interested in checkers for a couple of years. I made an impulse buy of a very used copy of “Win at Checkers” by Millard Hopper from an op-shop and got hooked on solving the problems, eventually wearing it out. I have since read a number of different eBooks on the subject of checkers, especially by Richard Pask. “Win at Checkers” is the only book I have seen 'in the flesh'.

I live in a rural area and haven't found anyone else interested in the game, which is probably just as well because I'm not that good at it! I have CheckerBoard and that is my only opponent (and teacher). I enjoy the tactics of the game and usually go through all of the possible moves mentally before making one. This makes me a very slow player. I have tried playing at various sites on the internet but most of the games get abandoned… I am currently working my way through a PDF copy of “The Major Tactics of Checkers”, also by Millard Hopper, and I am starting to build my own book of plays.

I was quite amazed when I stumbled upon this forum at the number of names I am familiar with from searching the internet on the subject of checkers, including the world champ! Thank you Alan for accepting my membership to this forum.

[George Hay]

Hello Wavuti, you could do worse for reading material! Welcome to the ACF Forum!
--George Hay

[JohnAcker]

Welcome, Wavuti. You should talk to Danny Alvarez-- he is also in QLD, I believe.

[Danny_Alvarez]

Hello Wavuti, I live in Brisbane ... whereabouts in Australia, are you???

it is great to hear from another person that enjoys checkers in Australia .... i know in my heart, that there must be many many more but i am struggling to find many. If you are ever here in Brisbane or surrounds let me know and we could meet for a coffee and a few games.

Cheers
Danny Alvarez

[Wavuti Uwepo]

Thanks for the welcomes, fellas. I live in the Discovery Coast area, Danny, between Miriam Vale and Bundaberg.

[Danny_Alvarez]

Hi Wavuti I don't usually venture that far north.... but we go almost every year to my favourite place in the whole world ... Fraser Island (which is not that far from you and Bundy). you are only 270 or so miles from me which is a lot closer than most of these folks that are 14 thousand miles away . If you wanna have an online chat or a game on the net let me know.... my email is alvarez.gd@gmail.com and my facebook is https://www.facebook.com/DanAlvarez73 add me.

it is really great to hear that there is another person in Queensland seriously interested in checkers.
cheers
Danny Alvarez

[MostFamousDane]

That distance is nothing for a true Australian - I had an old friend that travels that distance back and forth each day for work

[Danny_Alvarez]

Sune , you are right.... this country is so vast that we get used to longer distances .
I travel 130 kilometres each way to work (about 1/4 of the distance to Wavuti) .... so it is not impossible to meet.
By the way Wavuti, we have a tiny group, so tiny in fact that sometimes it is just me. We meet on the second thursday of each month between 5 and 8 pm at the local library. If you are interested let me know beforehand and i will let the guys know a new queenslander is coming
cheers
Danny Alvarez

[Wavuti Uwepo]

Hi Sune. I hope your friend is retired now. I've had to take one of my sons to see specialists in Brisbane every few weeks and what with roadworks, speed cameras, grey nomads and toilet stops it is a seven hour drive each way. Thankfully we get a break now and no more doctor visits until January next year.

Thankyou for the checkers club invite, Danny. I may not be able to take you up on a personal visit for quite some time but I am available for a game of email checkers if you are interested. I don't get much internet time but I do check my email accounts every day. If anyone else is interested my email address is wavuti.uwepo@gmail.com.

I will contact you by email, Danny.

Steven.

(Wavuti Uwepo is Swahili for "internet presence")

[MostFamousDane]

Hi Sune. I hope your friend is retired now. I've had to take one of my sons to see specialists in Brisbane every few weeks and what with roadworks, speed cameras, grey nomads and toilet stops it is a seven hour drive each way. Thankfully we get a break now and no more doctor visits until January next year.

Well I haven't taked to him for years but last I timed I talked to him he was still taking a 40 minute drive to get to newcastle, followed by hours of train ride to Sydney then followed by the subway to get to work. He had to get up at around 4 o'clock in the morning to get to work on time and was back home around midnight - he claims that it isn't that bad and that many people do this in his town. He was quite a reasonable person before he moved to Australia .

[tommyc]

Stephen..................if yu type in WCC checkers yu can find a free down load for wcc checkers it is much more consumer friendly,plus yu can copy the play to yur desktop and store it too.

[JohnAcker]

CheckerBoard offers the same feature, Tommy, and the interface is way better than WCC's.

[Wavuti Uwepo]

Thanks Tommy. I downloaded WCC Gold Plus and I agree with John as far as the interface goes but I am very used to CheckerBoard's interface. I love the way WCC uses very little RAM. I set up a game between WCC and KingsRow with KingsRow as Black and the level set for both at 60 seconds. The game was great. I was surprised by WCC's opening reply and eight moves in I thought WCC was going to get trounced but the game ended in a draw. I've put the PDN below. It was a very interesting game, especially moves eight to ten!

[Event "60 Seconds"]
[Black "KingsRow 1.16f"]
[White "WCC Gold+"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 11-15 24-20 2. 8-11 28-24 3. 4-8 23-19 4. 9-14 22-17 5. 15-18 17-13 6. 11-15 25-22 7. 18x25 29x22 8. 14-18 20-16 9. 18x25 16-11 10. 7x23 27x4 11. 2-7 24-19 12. 25-29 4-8 13. 29-25 8-4 14. 10-15 19x10 15. 6x15 4-8 16. 15-19 32-28 17. 5-9 13x6 18. 1x10 31-27 19. 10-14 27-24 20. 12-16 24x15 21. 3x12 15-11 22. 7-10 11-7 23. 14-18 7-2 24. 18-23 26x19 25. 16x23 2-6 26. 10-15 6-10 27. 15-18 10-15 28. 25-22 15-19 29. 22-26 19-15 30. 26-22 15-19 31. 22-26 19-15 32. 26-22 1/2-1/2

[tommyc]

Thanks Stephen, Two heads are better n one and especially if theyr both free.Its not rocket science and mb John has a touch of OCD?.

[JohnAcker]

I wasn't aware OCD was necessary to identify clearly superior software. But use whatever you like for your mailplay "wins."