These days, the two world international checkers matches are taking place in Wageningen, the Netherlands, which will award the titles of FMJD World Champion of absolute and female international checkers. The overall match pits the reigning champion, the Ukrainian Yuriy Anikieiev, against the challenger, the Dutch Jan Groenendijk, both GMI (International Grandmaster). The women's match is between the reigning champion, the Ukrainian Viktoriia Motrichko, and the challenger, the player with dual Ukrainian and Russian citizenship Darya Tkachenko, who however competes under the Dutch flag.
How to get to the world match
Every year the FMJD (Fédération Monde Jeu de Dames) awards these world titles but with different formats on four-year cycles. In even years, the champion is determined by playing a match, while in odd years by tournaments with 20 or 40 players. The reigning GMI champion Yuriy Anikieiev obtained his first overall world title in the 2023 championship held in Curaçao and this year he was supposed to challenge the winner of the 2022 match, the Dutch GMI Roel Boomstra, who however has since withdrawn from the professional game, paving the way for the runner-up of the tournament in Curaçao, namely GMI Jan Groenendijk. As for the women's match, also in this case the winner of the women's tournament in Curaçao MI (International Master) Viktoriia Motrichko is challenging the second place MF (Federal Master) Darya Tkachenko, given that the 2022 women's title has not been awarded.
The competition venue and game format
The four athletes are competing in the town hall of Wageningen and in particular the contenders for the overall title are crossing their pieces on the original table on which the capitulation of the Nazi forces in the Netherlands was signed in 1945, while the women on a replica of it. Both matches will be directed by an international referee, the American Lyublyana Turiy, and will have the following format: starting with 12 games in classical time, i.e. 90 minutes each to play 45 moves and starting from the 46th 30 minutes are added each and a cooldown of 30 seconds per move. A match is declared won if at the end of the 12 games one of the two players has multiple victories, with a minimum of two. In all other cases, a tie-break is reached, played at a faster pace. In any case we will know the names of the winners no later than December 31st.
Where to see the matches with commentary
The matches can be followed live in two languages: a very high quality technical commentary is available in Dutch on the YouTube channel of the KNDB (Dutch Drafts Federation) hosted by the coach of the Dutch women's national team Ester Van Muijen who will make use of the analyzes of guests of excellent level like past world champions Ton Sijbrands and Harm Wiersma. The commentary by Damian Reszka, several times Polish overall champion and former president of the Polish Damistic Federation, is available in English on his Youtube and Twitch channels.
The story of the international checkers
The origin of the international checkers, i.e. the 10×10 checkers, is not certain but over the years some historians such as Arie Van Der Stoep have tried to reconstruct its steps. There are hypotheses that the 100-square board was already used between 1300 and 1400 while its widespread presence in the Netherlands from the end of the 17th century is proven. The international checkers is also called Polish checkers, from a treatise in French which fictionalizes its story by telling how this variant was born from the meeting between a Polish nobleman and a French officer. While it seems that this is just a legend, as there is no evidence, another thesis for this name comes from the fact that in Dutch the word “Polish” indicated something strange or funny, and the fact that the 10×10 checkers playing with 20 pieces each instead of 15 could be considered unusual. In any case, it is not surprising that a central role in the development of the game was played by the Netherlands, the country that, together with the Soviet Union, contributed the most to this purpose.
What is the Italian Checkers Federation doing (FID)
To date, no Italian has been able to come close to the top world title but we are witnessing a systematic growth in competitiveness levels in all age categories which bodes well for the future. Over the years, the FID has set up a talent development system, encouraging international participation, particularly among youth players, and increasingly raising training standards with the transmission of skills from the more experienced players. The FID, according to the Sport and Health 2024 report, is the Associated Sports Discipline of CONI which has the largest number of active members and there is still unexpressed potential in many territories both in quantitative and qualitative terms. In order to pursue this aim, the federation promotes the “Dama a Scuola” project which sees an ever-increasing interest from schools, which can represent an inexhaustible pool of new talent.
What role can the Circolo Damistico Veliterno and the city of Velletri play?
In recent years the presence of the Circolo Damistico Veliterno in local newspapers has multiplied thanks to the numerous successes and international participations of the ASD athletes, demonstrating ever-increasing capabilities in the preparation of high-level athletes and in the training of new players. In order to reach the greatest number of potential enthusiasts, the Circolo Damistico Veliterno is at the forefront in dissemination activities and in the involvement of schools in the activation of projects such as “Dama a Scuola” and with the commitment of all the actors, especially schools, we can increasingly contribute to strengthening this discipline which promotes a healthy and competitive sporting environment, with the global dams movement's ultimate goal of seeing a chess board at the Olympics.
Gabriele D'Amora
