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Bert Vanderpool won the 1998 Inter-District (I-D) Checkers-By-Mail Tournament. This is the national championship of checkers-by-mail. Lonnie Martin, in his first I-D, took 2nd place.
This was apparently my 7th I-D Tournament. I took 4th place in the tournament, tying for 3rd with Tom Sheehan, and taking 4th on tie break (most games won). We tied on other forms of tiebreak (least matches lost, most matches won, and least games lost), and thus third place was decided on the fourth form of tiebreak. I played better than ever before. But, Vanderpool and Martin dominated. And I see serious flaws in my mail game. I thought I was well-prepared with an opening innovation ("cook"). But, only Wold and Jones fell into my trap (see below). That is not a criticism of Wold and Jones, but a tribute to the alertness of the other players.
Checkers-by-mail is played on post cards. In the I-D tournament, each player plays 6 games, simultaneously, against each of the other competitors. Each player chooses one opening and the tournament director chooses one opening, and both players play both sides of these three openings. Normally, difficult openings are chosen. In order to qualify for the I-D tournament, a player must win his district mail-play tournament (or take second place if there are several entrants in the district tourney), the previous year. Here are the final standings:
If you need it to read the following, please print out the numbered board.
My cook was this: 11-16 23-19 (considered a loss for centuries) 16-23 26-19 9-14 27-23 8-11 22-18 4-8 18-9 5-14 25-22 14-18 22-15 (23-14 is interesting)11-27 32-23 8-11 29-25 11-15 21-17 6-9 25-21 9-14 17-13 (24-20 seems to be an easy draw, which Vanderpool and I played in this tournament) 2-6 30-26 (Sheehan played 24-20 here, to an easy draw) 14-17 21-14 10-17 19-10 7-14 26-22 (Martin played 24-19 against Vanderpool, and should have lost) 17-26 31-22 14-17 22-18 3-7! (My correction of Cayton's book on the "Barred Openings") 23-19 (18-14 6-10 24-19 1-5 RW Loy-Wold) 17-22 18-14 (24-20 22-26 20-16 26-31 18-15 31-27 15-11 7-10 11-8 27-24 RW) 6-10 14-9 7-11 RW Loy-Jones.
Another cook of mine failed to materialize (1998 I-D booklet, p.15, note B): 9-13 24-19 11-15 28-24 6-9 23-18 1-6 18-11 7-23 26-19 8-11 24-20 (Here I inserted a "?" in the I-D booklet. 24-20 is a good move, but the previously published play was faulty) 3-7 31-26 10-14 19-15! (26-23 is a near loss, shown in the I-D booklet) 11-18 22-15 4-8 26-22 7-11? [14-18 (or 14-17 x 27-23 18-27 32-23 6-10 draw) 27-23 18-27 32-23 7-10 15-11 draw] 30-26 11-18 22-15 2-7 26-22? (26-23 14-18 23-14 9-18 27-23 18-27 32-23 WW) 7-11? (7-10 draw) 22-18 14-23 27-18 12-16 WW J.Lester vs. R.Fortman, 1938 Illinois State Ty.
See the 1997 I-D Checkers-by-mail Tournament, for a discussion of this and other previously "barred openings."