List of draughts players is concerned with the leading or champion figures in the history of various forms of

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

. The list should be limited to those who are notable in the game or its history.

Champions or masters in variants of draughts

* * Alatenghua * Alex Moiseyev * Alexander Baljakin *

Alexander Dybman Alexander Borisovich Dybman (russian: Александр Борисович Дыбман; born in 1962) is an inactive Soviet International draughts player, two-time World champion (in 1986 and 1987), and four-time Soviet champion in International ...

Alexander Georgiev Alexander Sergeyevich Georgiev (russian: link=no, Александр Серге́евич Георгиев; born 17 July 1975) is a Russian draughts player. He won the world championship in international draughts in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 201 ...

* Alexander Getmanski (also spelled as "Aleksandr Getmanski") * Aleksander Kandaurov *

Alexander Schwarzman Alexander Mikhailovich Schwarzman (russian: Александр Михайлович Шварцман; born 18 September 1967 in Moscow) is an international grandmaster in international draughts, Russian draughts and Brazilian draughts from Russia ...

Alexei Chizhov Alexei Rudolfovich Chizhov (russian: Алексей Рудольфович Чижов; born October 15, 1964 in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российск� ...

* Alfred Dussaut * Alfred Jordan - A World Checkers/Draughts Champion * Alfred Molimard *

Amangul Durdyyeva Amangul Berdieva (née Durdyeva; born 1987) is an English draughts and international draughts player from Turkmenistan. She is twice women's world champion of English draughts (also known as checkers) in both 3-Move and GAYP (Go As You Please) vers ...

Anatoli Gantvarg Anatoli Abramovich Gantvarg (russian: Анатолий Абрамович Гантварг; born 3 October 1948 in Minsk) is an international grandmaster in international draughts from Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known a ...

* * Andrew Anderson *

Andris Andreiko Andris Andreiko (17 October 1942 – 10 March 1976) was a three-time (1968, 1969, 1972) world champion and European champion (1974) in draughts. He also won eight national titles in 1961, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970–1972, 1975. Death Andreiko was an ...

* Arnaud Cordier *

Asa Long Asa Long (19041999) was an American checkers player, winner of multiple US Championships, spanning more than sixty years, and a one-time World Champion. Checkers champion Asa A. Long was born in Antwerp, Ohio in 1904. As a child he learned the g ...

Baba Sy ''Baba Sy'' was an African international draughts player and the first world champion from Africa. He is said to have been "discovered" by an American player visiting Dakar in 1959. In 1962 Germany organized a "big game/party", he was the only Se ...

Ben Springer Benedictus (Ben) Springer (Amsterdam, 19 June 1897 - Paris, 29 August 1960) was a Dutch draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve dia ...

* *

Carl "Buster" Smith Carl Sylvester "Buster" Smith (January 26, 1921 – October 8, 1992) was an eleven-time "Top Master" in the American Pool Checkers Association Division Championship. He won the Top Master title in 1967, 1970, 1972–76, 1982–83, 1991, and 1992, a ...

- Champion in

Pool checkers American Pool Checkers, also called "American Pool", is a variant of draughts, mainly played in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States and in Puerto Rico. Basic rules As in the related game English draughts English draughts (Britis ...

. * Charles Walker *

Cornelius "Con" McCarrick Cornelius may refer to: People * Cornelius (name), Roman family name and a masculine given name * Pope Cornelius, pope from AD 251 to 253 * St. Cornelius (disambiguation), multiple saints * Cornelius (musician), stage name of Keigo Oyamada * Met ...

Darya Tkachenko Darya Aleksandrovna Tkachenko (russian: Дарья Александровна Ткаченко; born 21 December 1983) is a Russian (since 2016), formerly Ukrainian (until 2015), draughts player holding the FMJD titles of FMJD Master (MF) and Wome ...

Dennis Pawlek Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

Derek Oldbury Derek Oldbury (1924 - July, 1994) (often known as DEO) was a British draughts champion from Devon. He was a rival of Marion Tinsley and, after Tinsley, "probably the second best player of all time." Oldbury was interested in Go As You Please (GA ...

Don Lafferty Don Lafferty (1933–1998) was a Grandmaster checkers (British English: draughts) player. In 1982 he defeated Derek Oldbury for the World GAYP (Go as you please) championship with a score of 1-0-23. He was challenged for the championship in 1984 ...

* Dul Erdenebileg * Edvardas Bužinskis * Edwin Hunt *

Elbert Lowder Elbert Lowder (born 1932; died December 14, 2006) was American checkers champion noted for dominating the "11-man ballot". He worked as a piano tuner and was from North Carolina. As one of the grandmasters who played against the Chinook program he ...

* Elena Altsjoel - A Women's International Draughts Champion *

Elena Mikhailovskaya Elena Konstantinovna Mikhailovskaya (russian: Елена Константиновна Михайловская; November 21, 1949, Moscow, USSR – February 4, 1995, Moscow, Russia) was the first female World champion in international draughts. Sh ...

- First Women's International Draughts Champion * Eugène Leclercq - A Men's International Draughts Champion * * Guntis Valneris * Hanqing Zhao *

Harm Wiersma Harm Wiersma (born 13 May 1953 in Leeuwarden, Dutch Frisia) is a Dutch draughts player and former politician. He is a six-time world champion in draughts and former MP. Biography In draughts he won his first Dutch championship in 1972, bu ...

* Herman Hoogland * * Ion Dosca *

Iser Kuperman Iser Kuperman, sometimes spelled Koeperman, (russian: Исер Иосифович Куперман; April 21, 1922 - March 6, 2006) was a player of international draughts from the USSR. He had been the seven-time world champion, the four-time Panam ...

Isidore Weiss Isidore Weiss (1867 – June 12, 1936) was a Frenchman who won seven world championships for international draughts from 1899 to 1911, a record not surpassed until Alexei Chizhov Alexei Rudolfovich Chizhov (russian: Алексей Рудоль� ...

* Jack de Haas *Jake Kacher *

James Ferrie James Ferrie (born 1857; died 1929) was a Scottish checkers or English draughts player of Irish descent. He was the World Checkers/Draughts Champion from 1894 to 1896 and again from 1903 to 1912 He first became champion by defeating James Wyllie ...

- A World Checkers/Draughts Champion *

James Wyllie James Wyllie (8 July 1818 – 5 April 1899) was a Scottish draughts player who is important to the history of the game. He is often nicknamed "The Herd Laddie". For many years the date of his birth was uncertain. The day was thought to have bee ...

* Jan Mortimer *

Jannes van der Wal Jannes van der Wal (November 12, 1956 in Driezum – September 24, 1996 in Groningen) was a Dutch/ Frisian draughts player and world champion in the game. He also played chess at a nearly competitive level. Career He became world champion in ...

* Jean Marc Ndjofang * * * Leopold Sekongo * Li Tchoan King *Lindus Edwards * Lourival Mendes França *

Lubabalo Kondlo Lubabalo Nicholas Kondlo (born December 21, 1971) is a player of English draughts (also known as American checkers) from South Africa. He holds the title of grandmaster, and is the current world champion in the GAYP (go as you please) version. Car ...

*Lukas Valenta *

Marcel Deslauriers Marcel Deslauriers (born in Montreal on July 22, 1905; died December 1988) was a Canadian/Québécois international draughts player. In 1956 he became the only North American, male or female, to win Draughts World Championship The Draughts World Ch ...

*Future Is Near *

Marion Tinsley Marion Franklin Tinsley (February 3, 1927 – April 3, 1995) was an American mathematician and checkers player. He is considered to be the greatest checkers player who ever lived. Tinsley was world champion 1955–1958 and 1975–1991 and never lo ...

- He has been called the greatest American-checkers player ever. * Marius Fabre *

Maurice Raichenbach Maurice Raichenbach (born near Warsaw, Poland on May 12, 1915; died in Hauts-de-Seine, France on March 1, 1998) was a Polish-born French draughts champion. His early childhood was spent in the area around Warsaw, but when he was a boy his mother ...

* * Michele Borghetti *Nadiya Chyzhevska *

Natalia Sadowska Natalia Sadowska (born 27 July 1991) is a Polish draughts player who ranked third at the Women's Draughts European Championship in 2010 and whose successes go back to 2007. She is a highly rated women's player for Poland and was second at the 20 ...

N'Diaga Samb N'Diaga Samb (born August 6, 1966) is a Senegalese draughts player based in the Netherlands. He took first place at the African Championship in 2016, second place at the African Championship in 1992, 2006, 2014, 2018 and finished third in 2003, 20 ...

Newell W. Banks Newell Williams Banks (October 10, 1887 – February 17, 1977) was an American checkers and chess player. Banks played his first game of blindfold checkers at age five years and six months at the Detroit Chess and Checker Club. In 1909, according ...

Nina Hoekman Nina Hoekman (8 August 1964 – 26 June 2014) was a Ukrainian-Dutch draughts player and coach. At the 2012 World Mind Sports Games she received a silver medal. Career Born Nina Georgijevna Jankovskaja in Kiev, Hoekman moved to the Netherlands ...

* Olga Kamyshleeva - A Women's International Draughts Champion * Olga Levina * * Patricia Breen *

Pierre Ghestem Pierre Ghestem (14 February 1922, Lille – 11 March 2000, Lille) was a French people, French Contract Bridge, bridge and International draughts, checkers player. Career In 1947 he became the world champion in checkers. In bridge, he was a World ...

Piet Roozenburg Piet Roozenburg (24 October 1924 in Rotterdam – 27 April 2003 in Ochten) was a draughts player from the Netherlands. He was an important figure in the game, having been the world's draughts champion in 1948, 1951, 1952 and 1954. He created the ...

* *

Rashid Nezhmetdinov Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov (Tatar language, Tatar: , ; russian: Раши́д Гибя́тович Нежметди́нов; December 15, 1912 – June 3, 1974) was a Soviet Union, Soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player. Thou ...

* *

Richard Fortman Richard Lee Fortman (February 8, 1915 – November 8, 2008) was a champion checkers player and authority on the game. Early years Richard Lee Fortman was born on February 8, 1915 in Springfield, Illinois, which was his home throughout his life. His ...

* Rob Clerc *

Robert Martins Robert Martins (born in Penryn, Cornwall Penryn (; kw, Pennrynn, meaning 'promontory') is a civil parish and town in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is on the Penryn River about northwest of Falmouth. The population was 7,166 ...

- A World Checkers/Draughts Champion * Robert Stewart - A World Checkers/Draughts Champion * Robert D. Yates *

Roel Boomstra Roel Boomstra (born 9 March 1993) is a Dutch draughts player and current world champion. He won the Draughts World Championship match in 2016, 2018 and 2022. In 2014 Boomstra won the Draughts European Championship. He also won the Dutch champio ...

Ron King Ron "Suki" King (born 1956) is an English checkers player from Saint George, Barbados. He has won twelve world championship titles at the game and is considered one of the strongest players of the game. King has been honored by his homeland being ...

* Ryan Pronk *

Sam Gonotsky Samuel Gonotsky (born in the Russian Empire, 1902; emigrated to the United States, 1906; died in Hurley Hospital, Detroit, of pleural tuberculosis, April 5, 1929) was a leading American checkers, or English draughts, player in the Two-Move Era (186 ...

* Stanislas Bizot * Tamara Tansykkuzhina *

Tanja Chub Tanya or Tanja Chub (born 16 May 1970, Kharkiv) is a Ukrainian-born Dutch draughts player. She won a silver medal for Draughts at the 1st World Mind Sports Games. References

1970 births Living people Dutch draughts players Players of i ...

Ton Sijbrands Teunis (Ton) Sijbrands (born 15 December 1949, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch international draughts player who became world champion in 1972. The next year, he successfully defended his title in a match against Andris Andreiko. In 1967, 1969, 1970, ...

* Vadim Virny * Viktoriya Motrichko *

Vladimir Kaplan Vladimir Kaplan (January 11, 1925 – September, 2000) was a noted player of pool checkers from Russia. Kaplan was an International Grandmaster who immigrated from Russia in 1977 to live in New York City, New York and by 1983 he played compet ...

Vyacheslav Shchyogolev Vyacheslav Ivanovich Shchyogolev (russian: Вячеслав Иванович Щёголев; born 30 December 1940 in Moscow) is a Russian grandmaster in international draughts. He won two Draughts World Championship The Draughts World Championshi ...

Walter Hellman Walter F. Hellman (June 15, 1916 – July 28, 1975) was the longest reigning world American checkers champion. Background Walter Oskar Fredrik Hellman was born in Gamla Nordsjö, Nordmaling, Sweden. His family moved to Gary, Indiana, United Sta ...

* William F. Ryan *KNDB
/ref> * Yulia Makarenkova * Zoja Golubeva

Non-human players

This section is for computer programs who are noted in the history of the game. *

Chinook (draughts player) Chinook is a computer program that plays checkers (also known as draughts). It was developed between the years 1989 to 2007 at the University of Alberta, by a team led by Jonathan Schaeffer and consisting of Rob Lake, Paul Lu, Martin Bryant, and ...

, a program developed at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

(noteworthy match against

) *

KingsRow KingsRow is a strong checkers and draughts engine. It was released by Ed Gilbert in 2000. The checkers engine can be used with the CheckerBoard GUI. The engine is available as freeware. History In the only Computer Checkers World Championship, Ki ...

, a strong program by Ed Gilbert *

Nemesis (draughts player) {{unreferenced, date=October 2010 Nemesis is an English draughts program by Murray Cash. Today Nemesis is no longer commercially available; development stopped years ago. Nemesis was the strongest program in 2002, when it won the British computer ...

, world computer champion in 2002

References

{{Reflist

External links

Old Time players pageUSA checkersWorld Draughts federationKNDB - Koninklijke Nederlandse Dambond - homepage

Draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...