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The Checker Tournament.W. C. Wood til. In Columbus Emiulrtr-Sun,Other matters of leas import must now wait and be patient while pausing on the sidetrack until the true facta relating to the annual session of the Georgia Checkers Association are incorporated into the printed record and thua become history.Thia association, over which a Fair-bum broker presided until recently, but which is now headed by the principal of one of the Columbus public schools, met 'Wednesday at Newnan, and for two days a great battle raged; a battle bloodless, it is true, but possessing all thenntensity of the great conflict at Veifdun.T!^e checkers spirit is high at Newnan, but the hospitality of the sprightly Coweta county capital is still greater, and, thanks to this agreeable combination, the State Association of Checker Players has held its two last sessions there,The tournament thia year was well attended, and there were some royal contests between Georgia experts. Only a dozen players took part in the, contest, but each game had its crowd of spectators, who watched with absorbed interest tbe innumerable battles between “General White and his faithful supporters and “General Black •nd his loyal adherents.Checkers, (or draughts, if you prefer that;,name,) must not be held in light regard by the unthinking proletariat. The flume is one of the most scientific of tTl ’ games having a mathematical basia, and with its somewhat fanciful cousin, chess, has engaged the attention of experts throughout the civilized world, and been a source of keen interest and delight to the intellectually-inclined of the leading nations.Checkers has engaged the thought and attention and sometimes a life of almost slavish devotion on the part of innumerable mathematical experts. A great many books have been Written on the subject, and some of these works are in their tenth edition. The original books seem to have been written principally by Scotchmen, checkers having been a great game in Scotland for centuries; but in recent years some of the keen-witted American writers have been turning out books that are said*io be the last word on the subject. However, something new is constantly turning up in the game, and it will be a long time before the checkers library is ever complete, if it ever will be.Players of checkers are divided roughly divided into two classes—“natural players and “book players. The best rounded player is a combination of the two, although it is said that in moments of great stress, when absolute thinking is necessary, the “natural” player, being in the habit of depending upon his own resources and intuition, hiis a shade the better of it. A fine example of a natural player is Mr. John Y. Irvin, of Columbus. Mr. Irvin, it is quite possible, never »aw the inside of a book on draughts, and yet in his prime he could have made it extremely interesting, not to say hot, for the authors of some these aforesaid books. Mr. Irvin is now well advanced in the ’seventies, but keenly enjoys the game. His friend, Mr. Joe Phipps, is well along in the ’eighties; yet these two veterans still have their regular bouts.But we are getting a long way from the annual meeting of the Georgia Checkers Association. The players struggled in, on different train*, on Wednesday morning and were met by the local committee. There proceeded to the scene from Columbus Prof. Fuller Mynatt, principal of Rose Hill school, Mr. Jos. W. Marshall, postmaster of Girard, and the writer. Atlanta was represented by several strong players. The champion for the past year was Walter T. Newman, formerly of Columbus.It was a very remarkable coincidence that not one of tbe players—that is, those that were to take part in the tournament—had any satisfactory rest the night before. One man had been disturbed by a dance next door and didn’t go to sleep until 2 o’clock in the morning; another had to stay up to meet a late train; others had “slight headaches, from this cause and that, and not one was in good condition. The Newnan hosts and committeemen, wise in their day and generation, smiled sympathetically but knowingly at these melancholy reports; they had heard checker players talk before.The games were played in the large court-room of the handsome county court-house—a really beautiful building erected by local builders, R. D. Cole Mfg. Co.—whose work, by the way, is represented in ColumbuB in the form of various towers and tanks for industrial piantB. Playing began Wednesday at noon, and thelast game was not finished until after 10 o’clock Thursday night.Entries in the tournament were as follows: 0. A. LaFoy, Monroe; Walter T. Newman, Atlanta; C. E. Sewell, Yatesville; Joseph Sprigs Hall, Atlanta; W. C. Woodall, Columbus; J. W.Marshall, Girard; J. H. Carr, Stone Mountain; Fuller Mynatt, Columbus; E. W. Estes, Gainesville; Jack Linch, Senoia; Dennis Thurman, Senoia; C. J. Barron, Newnan.T. J. Thurman was on hand in his official capacity as secretary and treasurer of the Georgia association, and also in the personal capacity of host, and he and L. E. Snead, the courteous and capable scorer, conducted the tournament in a very efficient and successful manner. Other Newnan citizens and checker players were present, and the welcome they extended to this beautiful and progressive little Georgia city was cordial in the extreme.At noon on the second day a barbecue was served, the local checker players being the hosts—and such a barbecue! Beef, pork and mutton, all barbecued to an exquisite brownness and retaining all the original meat juices, with even added virtue and flavor; and served in such bountiful quantities that more was left over than was consumed. Such hospitality calls for more; and the Georgia draught players, although they have agreed to stay away from Newnan for one year, havo reserved the privilege of meeting again in that city in 1918; in fact, have already invited themselves to meet there and have accepted the invitation. The 1917 convention was invited to Atlanta, and the invitation was accepted.Each participant in the tournament played 44 games. Winning a game gave a player a credit of two points; drawing a game gave each player one point. Thus a perfect score would have been 88 points. Quite a number of unusually strong players were in attendance upon the meet, however, and it was regarded from the beginning that no player would make an unusual record. Out of a possible 88 points the players scored as follows, in the order named: Hall, 59; Newman, 59; LaFoy, 56; Mynatt, 55; Carr, 48; Marshall, 43; Barron, 43; Estes, 40; Woodall, 38; Sewell, 34; Thurman, 34; Linch, 19.Newman and Hall having made the same score, it was necessary to play off the tie. Hall won three straight games, and with them the championship of Georgia.New officers of the Georgia Checkers Association were elected as follows: President, Fuller Mynatt, of Columbus; vice-president, L. D. Sewell, of Lutherville; secretary and treasurer, T. J. Thurman, of Newnan.Men can’t understand why women worry over trifles and women can’t understand why men do not.
Newspaper Details
Newnan Herald
Newnan, Georgia, US
Fri, Aug 18, 1916
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Hildy J.
USA 25 Jan 2024
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