Return to my Checkers pages
Go to my home page
© Copyright 2004, Jim Loy
You may print this and show it to
others. But, this article will eventually be part of a book that I am writing.
So, please do not distribute it widely.
If you need help reading checkers notation, please print out the numbered board.
Anderson and Wyllie were obviously two of the greatest players ever (perhaps only Tinsley was better). And their 1847 match for the World Championship is a classic match. But there were several mistakes in the match, at least one of which (game #27) was extremely puzzling. Here are three of the games:
[Event "Edinburgh 1847, game 18"]
[Black "A Anderson"]
[White "J
Wyllie"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 11-15 22-17 2. 8-11 23-19 3. 9-13 17x14
4. 10x17 21x14 5. 15-18 26-23 6. 13-17 19-15 7. 4-8 24-19 8. 6-9 28-24 9. 9-13
25-21 10. 2-6 32-28 11. 18-22 23-18 12. 11-16 15-11 13. 16x32 11x2 14. 22-25
29x22 15. 17x26 30x23 16. 32-27 2x9 17. 27x20 28-24 18. 20x27 31x24 19. 3-7
24-20 20. 8-11 23-19 21. 7-10 14x7 22. 5x23 7-3 23. 1-6 3-8 24. 23-27 8x15 25.
27-31? (27-32 draws) 19-16? (15-18* WW) 26. 12x19 15x24 27. 6-10 24-19 28.
31-26 20-16 29. 10-14 16-11 14-18 1/2-1/2
I am sure that the final position of the next game has puzzled a lot of people. J. Gould guessed that the games were incorrectly numbered, and that Anderson was Red in this game (and that Red won). Regardless, the final position is a draw:
[Event "Edinburgh 1847, game 27"]
[Black "J Wyllie"]
[White "A
Anderson"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. 11-15 22-17 2. 15-19 23x16 3. 12x19 24x15
4. 10x19 25-22 5. 8-11 30-25 6. 4-8 27-23 7. 11-16 22-18 8. 8-12 17-14 9. 16-20
23x16 10. 12x19 32-27 11. 9-13 25-22 12. 6-9 27-24 13. 20x27 31x15 14. 1-6
29-25 15. 7-10 14x7 16. 3x19 18-15 17. 9-14 15-11 18. 6-10 11-8 19. 2-7 8-3 20.
5-9 3-8 21. 10-15 8-3 22. 7-11 3-7 23. 11-16 7-3 24. 14-18 3-7 25. 18-23 7-11
26. 23x30 11x18 27. 16-20 18-14 28. 9x18 22x15 29. 20-24 15-11 30. 24-27 25-22
31. 27-31 22-18 32. 31-27 18-14 33. 27-23 11-7 34. 23-18 14-9 35. 30-26 0-1
(draw, Red looks better)
[Event "Edinburgh 1847, game 28"]
[Black "A Anderson"]
[White "J
Wyllie"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. 11-15 22-17 2. 8-11 23-19 3. 9-14 25-22 4.
3-8 29-25 5. 11-16 27-23 6. 5-9 22-18 7. 15x29 19-15 8. 10x19 17x3 9. 29-25
24x15 10. 9-13 28-24 11. 16-20 31-27 12. 25-22 26x17 13. 13x22 23-18 14. 22-25
21-17 15. 25-29 32-28 16. 2-7 3x10 17. 8-11 15x8 18. 6x22 8-3 19. 4-8 24-19 20.
8-11 3-8 21. 11-16 19-15 22. 16-19 15-10 23. 12-16 8-11 0-1 (Anderson resigns
in a drawn position, continue 22-26 30-23 19-26 11-15 29-25 10-7 25-22 17-13
26-30 7-3 30-26 3-8 1-6 8-12 6-10 draw)