For writing, releasing, and then open sourcing his program CheckerBoard. It's his code that provided the standard interface to interact with checkers engines. And by writing the documentation and open sourcing his program he helped me understand how to interact with the dlls.

He also provided the end-game database files that hugely increase the playing strength of the checkers engines.

For writing and letting me use his phenomenal checkers engine KingsRow.

He's letting me use his engine for free to make these problems. And he wrote excellent documentation on how to interpret the engine's output.

For compiling a PDN of 20,000 checkers games called the Open Checkers Archive. Check the 3rd party addons at the bottom of Fiertz's download page.

This archive along with one from the American Checkers Federation is essential to me. I can't scan games looking for problems if I don't have games.

I started this website by following his Rails Tutorial and building his toy twitter clone. I had used rails a little before attempting this project but that tutorial got me started again. If you have any interest in programming or web development buy his book.

For creating the inspiration for this site, ChessTempo And for on his active presence on their forum. He's answered questions from me and others about how he builds his site and his problems. I have spent a lot of time there. I can only hope that this imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

For challenging me to build this site. In the summer of 2014 we were playing a friendly game of checkers and I was lamenting the lack of good learning tools. He asked, "why don't you build one?"

For testing, feedback, and suggestions. His innumerable bug reports and suggestions have been instrumental in fixing the worst offenses of a lazy programmer.

For creating and putting the 'old' checkers pieces on open game art.

Bob Newell writes a webzine about checkers every Saturday morning. Only rarely can I solve the puzzles he gives, but they're always fascinating.

The place to go if you're looking for official boards or pieces. They also have tons of info about tournaments, history, news, etc.

An obituary of the strongest checkers player who ever lived.

Checker's version of Deep Blue. The computer program that solved checkers. One jump ahead is a fascinating book.

A great entry point for a distracting dive into wikipedia. Remember that this site is dedicated to English Checkers.