Background
Asa A. Long was born in Antwerp, Ohio in 1904.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Asa Long
Edit ProfileCareer
As a child he learned the game of checkers when the family moved to Toledo, Ohio. In the 1920s he began to devoting himself to studying the game in more depth as he had in essence been a remarkable amateur. lieutenant is said he clocked 55,000 hours in the study of checkers.
He became less active in the mid-1940s and in 1948 lost to Walter Hellman, a player from Indiana whom he had beaten before.
In 1992 he played his last important match which was against the Chinook computer. Before that he had mentored Marion Tinsley who would later defeat Long with consistency and be widely deemed the greatest player in the history of the game.
Asa Long was a grandmaster for 70 years in total.
Achievements
-
At 16 he won the state tournament and at 18 he became the youngest person to ever win the United States national championship. After that he would go on to win the world title in 1934. In the 1970s his involvement revived and in 1984 he became the oldest person to win the United States championship in a surprise victory. This gave him the record as both youngest and oldest national champion.
