10x10 board recommendations

[Hakan Lundberg]

Hello!

In my quest for learning classical games, it is time to develop some basic skills in International Checkers. I have played the American/English version fore a while. And, although none I know of plays checkers here in Sweden, I played it with my Grandfather when very young. I have no idea what version we traditionally played here. My Grandfather was an Apprentice/Journeyman in the Tanning Industry in Germany in the 1920's – so it was possibly we played a German version.

However... To the point. Of course I have to invest in a better 10x10 wood board. The official FMJD rules states that the maximum "playing area" is 45x45 cm. I do not know what "playing area" actually is! Is it the total size of the board, or is it the are for the 10x10 squares?
I have not found many 10x10 boards on the market. As I only speaks English (and Swedish of course) I might be missing some web sites retailers. I have found a few though:
- This board that actually is 45x45 cm, but with rater small squares (as compared to official minimum size of Chess board squares) of 35 mm: http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/board/d ... x10-45.htm
- A bit larger board (with 8x8 board on other side) with 40 mm squares – but the total size of the board is 48x48 cm: http://www.pentangle-puzzles.co.uk/acat ... ckers.html
- The most beautiful boards I found have 50 mm squares, and a total size of 65x65 cm. But not too expensive. http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/board/c ... -10x10.htm
I guess it's too large for "official play", or...?

Maybe I shouldn't concern myself much with this, since I never will play in official competitions. Actually I may not play with many at all, I'm afraid - but only use it for "studying" the game (iPad apps being the main competition – the higher levels beat me any day...).

So...
One question is: is it the "full board" dimensions that is set to a maximum of 45x45 cm for "official play", or may the square size be up to 45mm for a total of 45 cm "playing area"?
Then, I welcome recommendations about what board to get (and maybe also what pieces).

/Håkan

[A.Presman]

Hello Håkan,

Most of the time such a questions are being answered rather quickly on the Forum.
Unfortunately was your topic between some spam.
So visitors have missed it.
To the point.

I don't think you should pay too much attention to the size of the board.
To learn and train you can use any board. In Africa players draw the board on the sand and play with Cola caps.
And some of them become big masters.

But if you are still willing to buy a big board - you can have a look for instance to http://damboeken.nl/borden%20en%20schijven.html

[Hakan Lundberg]

Thanks!

I also got a "private reply" with good advise.
Soon the snow is here in Northern Sweden, and I could probbably go out and make my own "snowboard".
But just thought while I'm about to spend some money, It is always good to get some advise about what to spend it on. From some that have played for a while, and maybe have some experience about what would be a good choice.
This store didn't come up in my Google search. They seem have a lot of things, and I take some time checking it out. Probably since you call it "dammen" in the Netherlands – and I only searched for "checkers" and "draughts". We actually call it "dam" or "damspel" here, but nobody knows the actual rules any longer. Since it is "dam" in the word, we must have played with a long king (as the queen/dam in chess). But a 8x8 chessboard was used by convenience. Other in Sweden traditionally used rules are possibly lost in to history.

[A.Presman]

Can you find this type of 8x8 draughts at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draughts ?
In Dutch "Damspel" is just "Damspel"
By the way there were once in Sweden a tournament organized and even an European championship (blitz, I guess).
But all players were non-Swedish.

[Hakan Lundberg]

I 'll guess the German version was the one played. Until WWII, Germany was our main traiding partner. And there was many influenses during the 19th century. I have discussed with a cousin, and we imagine we remember that capturing backwards with men wasn't allowed. But we (I) never ever played with anybody else than our grandfather (and with other cousins with my grandfathers rules) 30-35 years ago – and he had lived in Germany in the 1920i's and possibly played it there during this time.
Before the 19th century, our cultural influences was more leaning towards the French. And before than the soldiers of our warrior kings brought with them influenses from all over our Empire and the other countries we terrorised. But if they played checkers during that time I do not know. If they did, influenses from Russian and even Turkish (Ottomanian) could have been possible.
I have never seen a 10x10 square board anywere, though.

[Marcel Kosters]

Hi Hakan,

Via Facebook, draughts lover Pascal Stil from Ireland alerted me to this thread and I see that you already found good advice. If you are thinking about a second draughts board or want a draughts board that you can use everywhere - while travelling, in bath, in bed or in your lazy chair, I really can recommend this (magnetic!) board:

http://www.raindroptime.com/luxe-magnet ... 10-cm.html

Among draughts players in The Netherlands, this simple but efficient pocket draughts board is a very big hit already for decades.
During big open draughts events such as salou-open.nl (I think Alexander Presman can tell you a lot about it, it is a very nice tournament with players of all strenghts!) players in the evening while in the restaurant get out these boards on the table and start analyzing between and during courses .

If you wish to study or learn a bit more about the game, there is digital (and free) material available. At the absolute beginners level, I recommend the first part of the KNDB (Dutch Draughts Federation) educational method that has recently been translated into English.
It will soon be published by World Draughts Federation FMJD but I can send it to you directly by e-mail as well, if interested, please drop me a note at marcelkosters@gmail.com. Also, I very much recommend that, if you are on Facebook, to visit some draughts groups. If you like, we can become Facebook friends (https://www.facebook.com/marcel.kosters.12), I try to publish some draughts news and impressions on a regular basis on my Facebook. Even better is to visit the English language website http://www.alldraughts.com .

After the absolute beginners level, there are 5 more parts of the KNDB educational method by they have not yet been translated. However, a very good alternative that has already received wide acclaim then is the 'Course in Draughts' by Tjalling Goedemoed. It can be freely downloaded from the website of World Draughts Federation FMJD: http://fmjd.org/promo/cid.php .

What I can recommend in any case is to maybe at some later point in time consider joining an open draughts event as it is an excellent way of meeting people and also quickly learning and understanding more about the game. There are many excellent open draughts events, especially in Europe, but also on the other continents, with until now the exception of Africa that limits itself to official (and closed) national and continental championships. Some events that any draughts-hearted beginner for sure will enjoy:

http://www.salou-open.nl: Organized in Salou, Spain, this event is very popular. Alexander Presman is one of the (Dutch) organizers
http://www.thailandopen.nl: Organized in Jomtien, not too far from Bangkok.
http://www.heerhugowaardopen.nl: This year and hopefully next year too the biggest and strongest event but not only that, also a very enjoyable event! (You may sense that with many others, I'm involved with it's organization). Organized in Heerhugowaard, Netherlands
http://www.lishuiopen.com: Organized in Lishui, China. Only open tournament in China so far!
http://www.damweb.cz/gprague/gprague.html: Golden Prague, organized in Prague, Czechia. In the center of a wonderful and historic city.

Please note, that especially in The Netherlands, during the months of July and August, there is the possibility to participate each week in another open tournament. The above tournaments are just an (attractive) sample of possibilities. Choose one or more where www.norwegian.com flies to and you'll have a very good time .

A complete overview of your worldwide draughts (holiday) destinations can be found at http://fmjd.org/calend.html .

I wish you lots of pleasure with the beautiful game and if you wish to learn / hear more / are in need of information, please contact me or the other draughts friends that have already gotten in touch with you.

Best wishes,
Marcel Kosters
Netherlands

[Hakan Lundberg]

Thanks Marcel!

I just downloaded the books by Mr Goedemoed, but have not have the time to read them. I also think better if I can have a board and pieces in front of me to set up specific positions. Thats the main reason for getting a board soon. I'll check out the magnetic one – but I see the store also have other nice wooden board that I might consider.
I'll mail you about the other digital books.
Unfortunately I will probably not have time to go abroad for checkers events. Traveling is also relative expensive. Most expensive here is the taxi trip 50km to the airport. The second most expensive is flying 1000km to Stockholm. And the least expensive is then the flight connection to other European countries
I downloaded some iPad apps. I might later try to find other people, who uses them too, to play with over internet:
10x10 (Itchigoo), Checker-Wise, Maximus, Checkers (Target Works), International Checkers, CaD, Checkers MP, Checkers (Jocly), Checkers Elite, Championchip Checkers, Checkers (Out of the bit), and a few other. At least one of them should have some qualities (used a few of them for English Draught play).