If you don’t have this book on your shelf yet, it’s high time to change that! This is a unique album featuring nearly 400 draughts posters spanning three centuries. If you are interested in making a purchase, please contact us at: warcaby@pcbest.pl.
See book preface:
I always tried to keep souvenirs from every tournament and every trip. None of the tournament gadgets brought in ended up in the trash. Over the years, the number of them began to increase. And since I’m not an introvert by nature, I’ve always wanted to show off the contents of my collections.
I was inspired to create this book by an online conversation with Ryszard Przewoźniak. I noticed that on the wall behind him there was a beautifully framed poster from the 1885 Amiens tournament. This tournament is special because it is widely considered to be the first World Championship. I thought it was a beautiful reproduction from a book, but it’s a very original poster from the 1880s. I knew Ryszard’s archives were amazing, but I didn’t know what a great collection of posters he had. And so, after our conversation, the idea arose to publish the book that you, dear reader (or rather viewer), have in front of you. It would not have been created without Ryszard, first of all, but also without many others who shared their collections with me. I have listed all of them in the list of collectors and I would like to thank them all. Together we are preserving part of our history. I also hope that I will inspire others to check their drawers to see if there are any souvenirs from the past hidden there. Please share them with me, I do not rule out a second, much larger edition in a few years. I also do not rule out a similar publication with other collections related to draughts.
I invite you to a journey through three centuries. The collected posters include those from both large and local events. We start our journey with the already mentioned, absolutely historic tournament in Amiens, it’s the 19th century. The poster is worth showing both sides of it.
Draughts in Algeria? It sounds a bit exotic today (at least in relation to the hundred version), but in 1923 it was France. The poster (22) announces the match in Algiers. We also have a trace of pre-war draughts life in the USSR. Poster (27) from 1933 announces the Moscow Kaluga match. The teams consisted of 4 chess players and 2 draughts players.
The year 1939 left a strong mark on our history. In April of that year, the French Championships (31) were held in the „Dupont-Bastille” restaurant. Restaurants were quite common places for draughts meetings of those years. I wonder what they talked about after the game? Dark clouds hung over Europe. Certainly no one expected what was to happen a few months later. Draughts players met again in the same place six years later. Less than 20 days after the end of the war, the World Championship match was played in Europe (32). The atmosphere right after the war was certainly unique. The „Dupont-Bastille” restaurant will mark its place in the history of draughts again two years later, because it was here that FIJD (International Federation of Draughts) was founded on September 13, 1947, and its name was changed a few years later to FMJD (World Draughts Federation).
In 1954, the first USSR Championship in draughts was held. A country with a tradition of playing draughts quickly became a world power. Just four years later, Iser Kuperman became World Champion. However, the poster announcing the USSR Championship (49) lists Kuperman as one of many in the last line! He is not billed as a star like Abaulin or Sretenski.
There are some other posters from tournaments being played for the first time. Draughts World Championship (161), Women’s European Championship (228), Senior World Championship (298, 299). I will mention those from club tournaments in a moment.
Draughts were often associated with artistic events. There is a tournament combined with an art exhibition (55). We have a special concert to celebrate the French Championship (134). And quite recently, there was a concert with music about the life of Jannes van der Wal (317), who is a real legend in the Netherlands (he died in 1996 at the age of less than 40 from leukemia).
There are more than just tournaments on the pages of this book. For example, there is a poster (103) inviting to a meeting with draughts veterans under the slogan „back in the hometown”. The main announced star of the evening is A. Berak, the first champion of Odessa. Of course, the entire meeting was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of „The Great October”. There are several posters (64, 94, 107, 118) that encourage people to solve the tasks on them and take part in the competition. There is also an advertisement for the monthly magazine „Shashki” (125).
Draughts has never had many powerful sponsors, but you can see them on posters. One of the posters (65) is dominated by cigarettes. It is sad to say that the advertising was effective because the ban on smoking during draughts tournaments was introduced only in 1994 (in Poland, smoking was never allowed in the tournament hall). There are some „alcohol” posters (80, 88, 113). Alcohol and cigarettes have obviously already disappeared from advertisements. Over 50 years ago, draughts were also supported by a Dutch company producing industrial saws (106, 111). The advertising was effective and the company is doing well to this day. We also have marked (129) the love affair between draughts and oilmen!
Another rarity on the pages of this book is a poster from the 1963 Kuperman-Baba Sy (83) title match. The match that didn’t take place! A brilliant Senegalese man was refused a visa. In 1986, the FMJD Congress decided that the match had been won by walkover and awarded him the title of World Champion. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it, he died in a car accident eight years earlier.
We can also see from the posters how great a figure Andris Andreiko was for Latvians. Even when he wasn’t playing at home, posters were printed in Riga (101, 112, 115, 121).
Personally, I look at posters „painted with heart” with great sympathy. Handwritten (34, 38, 99, 123), perhaps only in a few copies, but there they are! It is also difficult to deny the emotional approach of the unknown author of the poster. Just like on the poster advertising the published book (90), which includes an appeal to ladies, the wives of draughts players: „You don’t have to be jealous of these ladies, because they are made of wood. Your husband will leave everyone else for them, but not you”.
Draughts animators often turned to their loved ones when looking for inspiration for posters advertising the tournament. These are also posters „painted with heart”. On the poster from the French Youth Championships (255) we can see the beautiful smile of Julia Przewoźniak, and the draughts player on the poster from the 3rd European Women’s Championship (251) is Kinga Pętlicka. Raoul Buurke shows us his satisfaction with playing draughts on the computer (212, 213).
I look at the poster from the 1st National Youth Olympics (285) with sentiment and sadness. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Sport got bored with the event after three editions. However, the Polish Children’s Championships continue to this day and attract more participants every year! The first edition of this event was immortalized on a poster (305). However, European club competitions disappeared. And the start was great, we had the Confederations Cup (214) and the Champions Cup (215). However, posters remained.
Autographed posters are great souvenirs. There are 12 of them. Wherever I had the opportunity, I posted two versions, the blank one and the one with autographs.
The posters are arranged in chronological order. I tried to keep the names of places and countries in their original form, while also giving current names. In most cases, it was almost impossible to identify the authors. The names that have been identified are placed next to the posters and in the authors’ index. I will be very grateful for any corrections or additions.
Originator, collector and publisher
.Jacek Pawlicki
