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by Govert Westerveld (Author)
Chess was a royal game while draughts was played by the seamen and soldiers and known as the "game of the proletariat". Such terms clearly classify the first game as noble and worthwhile and the second as silly or worse. Many people like to speak about the superiority of chess over the draughts. However, "simple" game does not mean "easy" game. In fact, such people only show their ignorance about these two games. Chess is not harder than draughts. The opposite is true - draughts on a 100-square board is more difficult than chess. Draughts is not easier to play well than chess. The game may seem more monotonous or less interesting than chess, but playing it really well is challenging. Any really good draughts player can play blindfolded just as really good chess players do. In this book you will observe the ideas and comments of a lot of chess and draughts players on the question of which game is more difficult - chess or draughts. You will observe that most of them came to the conclusion that draughts is more difficult than chess. It is interesting to observe that Pierre Gestem who was world champion of draughts and bridge and also a very good chess player observed that for him draughts was the most difficult game in the world. Other world champions of draughts and other chess players were of the opinion that draughts on the 100-square board is much harder than chess. Therefore, draughts can no longer be thought of as a simple game due to people's ignorance. On the other hand, the question always arises whether we can compare these two games as they are so different.
