Tributes and 2019 Ranking

Ladies and gentlemen, it's going on a decade since this blog was first written under rapor's influence. Time has really flew. Many of our peers has moved on. I still have some projects I want to do in the game and of course many projects outside of the game that really needs my focus. I would like to dedicate this post to some of my great mentors and seniors:

1. Max aka Adam Johnson, like Alessio aka gtx, he is one of the greatest talent to have never attend a real life competition. His wish was to leave the game for good and sever all ties. He is now only a mythical and legendary figure. People do not remember how good he really was and the years will keep passing by. Like my great mentor Max before me, because of time and life, I too will walk the same path one day. Hopefully one of the African greats or Alessio will show the mainstream checkers community that there are unknown great talents out there. There is a saying in online checkers, "no one before Max, no one after".

2. Great master Luis. In the golden era of online checkers, he was one of the leaders and great master. In his prime, he can grapple with the likes of Jolt, Qijch and the warrior Max himself. I am applauded that he still wants to continue to learn and improve. I have given him my 2019 versions of my databases. With them, can he grapple with today's best such as Moore and Lorne? We shall see.

3. Legendary Fredo. In his day, he was one of the top 3 online players. Being one of the greatest of all time he had the raw talent to be as good as grandmasters like Mosieyev and Scarpetta. Fredo is no longer youthful and it's time to let him go on in peace. Enjoy your biological calling to raise the next generation.

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2019 Online 3 move Ranking:

1. Matteo Bernini - Since Max is gone, nobody can touch him in anything 3/2 or under although he's nothing special at the moment. Even under tournament timer if it's a 40 game match and he's serious, he would be the favor against the current world champion Sergio. He sucks at 1/0 though and I'm not sure why he's playing that

2. Sergio Scarpetta - Sergio knows lots of lines and most people just cannot do much against him.

3. Alex M. - About the same level as Sergio but is not as good as Sergio in tournaments 

4. Alessio - nobody in history has been as dominant as Alessio in gayp online. His best 3 move game is also very solid. He fought the Italian killer Melikaya to a draw.

5. Fredo Mercado

6. Joe Moore - you can't play risky against him, he has a strong positional game and knows lots of pp. To beat Moore you have to play things he don't know or play very tight like him and just take wins when he makes a mistake. His persistence and studying has paid off and was able to beat Chee by a 9 game lead recently, Chee who is one of the few living representative of internet checkers still in existence.

7. Clint Olsen

8. Chee Xiong

9. Lorne Wells - he has beaten former top online players such as jolt, Juan, Daniel, Luis, Qijch, xeno and done good with Fredo and Chee in small series. You have to give him some credit now, if anything for just still existing as online checkers is dying. He still has more work to do but if you are not careful, he can catch you when you start to relax. One of his biggest weakness is his fighting spirit, but Gian agreed with me that he can be a more dangerous opponent on his best day than say Moore who is a very tough positional player.

10. Daniel 

11. Juan Arturo - he can beat Daniel and Lorne but not in his current condition. Like Fredo, he is busy raising the next generation of Juans. Father time and biology is calling.

12. Ledzeppelin

13.  Cesare

14. Xeno

15. Alvaro

16. Luis

17. Qijch

18. MT aka anthony

19. Darion

20. Gian

21. Mexican Cesar

22. Jaburu