Marion Tinsley

About

Widely regarded as the greatest checkers player to have ever lived, he was a mathematician and checkers world champion from 1955 until 1958 and, after a lengthy hiatus from competition, again from 1975 until1991. Between 1950 and his death in 1995, he never lost a single world championship match. In addition to his numerous consecutive title wins, he became widely known for his enthusiastic desire to play against the "Chinook" checkers-master computer program, which had been developed by a team at the University of Alberta using a highly comprehensive library of grandmaster knowledge and advanced algorithms. When the initially opposed American Checkers Federation and English Draughts Associations finally agreed to allow participation of a computer in the championship, partly as a result of Tinsley's resignation in protest, the highly publicized Man vs. Machine World Championship was established and commenced in 1990.

Before Fame

Having skipped 4 grades in primary school, he became a graduate of Columbus High School when he was just 15. He went on to earn a doctorate degree from Ohio State University in mathematical disciplines of combinatorial analysis, before working as a math professor at Florida State University and Florida A&M University. While attending graduate school, he is said to have spent over 10,000 hours studying the game of checkers.

Trivia

At the first Man vs. Machine World Championship in 1990, in which he competed against the Chinook computer program, he won with 4 victories vs. Chinook's 2. Although a 1994 rematch resulted in Chinook technically earning the championship title following 6 games declared to be a "draw" and Tinsley's eventual withdrawal due to pancreatic cancer, the program never actually defeated Tinsley.

Family Life

He was the son of Viola Mae and Edward H. Tinsley. He also had a twin sister named Mary Clark and 3 brothers, Ed, Joe, and Harold. Claiming to have always felt "unloved" by his parents, he ardently focused on demonstrating academic excellence in hopes of earning their affection. 

Associated With

Derek Oldbury, often touted as the 2nd best checkers player of all time, was once quoted as saying that Tinsley was "to checkers what Leonardo da Vinci was to science, what Michelangelo was to art, and what Ludwig van Beethoven was to music."