Video: Clint Holmes, Checkers Woodworker

Video: Registration and Socializing

Tournament Picture

Photo by Judy Grisley of United Country Southern Realty. Thanks, Judy!

Back row, left to right: Trey Stanley, Jack Francis, Nick Addante, Ron King, Teal Stanley, Alan Millhone, Roger Doll, Ramon Dionisio, Richard Beckwith, Ted Williamson, Jimmy O'Grady.
Middle row, left to right: Ray Shelly, Albert Tucker, John Grisley, Elbert Jones, Gene Ellison, George Stallsworth, James Atkins, Joe Schwartz, Ken Shultz.
Front row, left to right: Bill Stanley, Earle Sweatmon, Larry Keen, Earl Kennell, Jim Morrison, John Acker, Shelby Mays, Chas Macintyre, Alex Moiseyev, Joe Coleman, Anthony Bishop, Phil Schwartzberg, Earl Harvell, Leonard Hickman, Neil Wenberg, Howard Hoover, Robert Shuffett.
Seated, left to right: George Gerhauser, Wilma Wolverton, John Webster, Gayle Helterbrand, Kim Willis, James Martin

Not pictured: Richard Hallett, Tim Laverty, and Ron Bailey

Checkers Documentary Update

Many of you will remember the documentary film crew, led by Geoff Yaw of Think Media Studios, that attended that 2009 Nationals and the King-Kondlo match. We had hoped to bring them here to Springfield for a screening of their film King Me, but unfortunately the film is still in the final editing stages. I do, however, have an encouraging update from Geoff Yaw about the film:

We are working diligently to complete King Me in time to submit the movie to some important U.S. And International film festivals. The first deadline is September 24, 2010 which is the deadline for the Sundance Film Festival which is held every winter in Park City, Utah. The film festival circuit is very competitive. For example, Sundance receives close to 10,000 entries every year. Roughly 85 are selected for inclusion in the festival. We’re excited about the quality of King Me and are confident that we will find a home on the festival circuit and on the DVD rental market if not in a few select theaters across the country. After the Nationals are complete we will be reaching out to Richard Beckwith, Alan Millhone and Alex Moiseyev to help us put some finishing touches on the movie. We thank the ACF and its members again for their assistance and participation in King Me. We are confident that you will all find the finished product inspiring and sincerely believe that it will bring positive attention to the ACF and the game. I hope to have news regarding how ACF members can see the movie soon. There is talk of holding a private screening here in Cleveland sometime this winter. I will keep you apprised of details as they become available.

Website Update

I finally got SwissPerfect to export HTML versions of the tournament standings-- you can view them at the tournament site. Now that the framework is in place, it shouldn't take long to update future rounds. We've got about an hour left in R2 for the majors (I split with Teal Stanley, two wins each), so those results will be up later this afternoon.

Round 1 Results

Tomorrow I'll have this in nicer format on the tournament page, but for now manual will have to do. The masters played a two-game round (they're working on the first half of R2 this evening), and everyone else played a four-game round.

Masters (winner-takes-all)

Ron King 4 Rich Beckwith 0
Alex Moiseyev 4 John Webster 0
Tim Laverty 2 Phil Schwartzberg 2
Larry Keen 2 Albert Tucker 2
Jim Morrison 4 Anthony Bishop 0
Jack Francis 4 Ron Bailey 0
Joe Schwartz 4 Alan Millhone 0
Richard Hallett 4 Earl Sweatmon 0

Majors (game scoring)

Ken Shultz 6 Charles McIntyre 2
John Acker 4 Jimmy O'Grady 4
Teal Stanley 6 George Gerhauser 2
Gene Ellison 7 Leonard Hickman 1
Wilma Wolverton 4 Shelby Mays 4
John Grisley 6 Kim Willis 2
Ramon Dionisio 7 Ted Williamson 1
Robert Shuffett 6 BYE

Minors (game scoring)

Nick Addante 6 James Atkins 2
Elbert Jones 8 Joe Coleman 0
George Stallsworth 4 Ray Shelly 4
Neil Wenberg 5 Howard Hoover 3
James Martin 8 Trey Stanley 0
Earl Harvell 8 Bill Stanley 0
Gayle Helterbrand 6 Earl Kennell 2

We enjoyed a nice catered barbecue supper courtesy of the Fortman and Ponder families. Kim Willis presented both families with a plaque and certificate of appreciation, on behalf of the ACF, and Judy Grisley orchestrated a group photograph and took care of the prints, with proceeds going to the ACF. Thanks, all!

Moving Forward

We're in between the business meeting and the start of Round 1, so I figured I'd grab a few minutes to update you all on the happenings so far. Most of our players have arrived, and last I heard we had 47 people registered to play-- 20 more than our last 3-Move Nationals. That meant standing room only for our business meeting, as the main playing room seats 48 and we had several checkers wives attend the meeting. As a special treat, eight representatives from the Fortman family attended as well: Richard's sister June Russell, his children Cindy (Ponder) and Mark, Cindy's husband Daryl and their kids Evan and Emily, and Mark's kids Noel and Neil. We're thrilled to have them visit the tournament, and they've been so kind as to cater a meal for us this evening. Cindy and Daryl have been very supportive all along, both with the tournament and with the BC reissue, and I'm glad they could join us.

At the meeting itself, the focus was on honoring Richard Fortman: I said a few words welcoming everyone to the tournament and thanking them for the support, Alex and Rich talked about the impact of Basic Checkers, and everyone gave the family a big hand for helping us out. Afterward, Rich and Kim went over the tournament rules and logistics for the week. We'll be using the main room for the majors and minors, and the masters will have a separate (quieter) room for their matches. Our rules are similar to those at previous tournaments, aside from a new rule banning electronic noisemakers from the tournament room, so everyone should be fairly comfortable. On another topic, Ray Shelly formally took charge of promotion and business networking for the ACF, sharing some of his ideas and exhorting us to help him improve the game. I don't need to tell you that marketing has been a weak point in the ACF for some time, so it's great to see Ray stepping up. He and I actually had a long conversation over dinner last night about promotion and ratings, so look for some updates soon.

Speaking of dinner, I'm starved-- time for a bite. Watch this space for Round 1 updates soon!