The 2025 Pop Top “GAYP” Open Checker Championship Tournament
Results:
Congratulations! To MS (Master) Vadym Lapin from Margate, FL, GM (Grandmaster) Alex Moiseyev from Dublin, OH, and Matthew Clark form Charlotte, NC who were our Pop Top Checker Champions, and also finished in a 3-way tie as 1st Place winners with each having 15 game points out of a possible 20.
Congratulations! To MS (Master) Teal Stanley from Greensboro, NC who was recognized as our 4th place winner. All four top winners received a cash prize, a nice “Pop Top" trophy, and a “I Play Checkers” ACF ball cap. All tournament participating players received two ballpoint pens as a door prize.
Mark Hernig opened the tournament by welcoming players to the town of Waxhaw and to the W.H. Collins / Maxwell McCain First Annual Memorial “Pop Top” GAYP Championship Checkers Tournament. Mark explained they made the checkerboards and checkers for this occasion to keep the Mule Barn atmosphere & motifs of old pop bottle caps for checkers! This resembles how yesteryears checkers were played at the livery stable barn “Mule Auction” and the Maxwell’s General Store. He illustrated how the crates could be stacked to fix the height and playing surface to suit the players.
Our Tournament Honoree and MC was Mrs. Gladys McCain Kerr, a 92 year old precious sweet lady, a Waxhaw community pillar, who spoke about her Father, Robert Maxwell McCain who owned and operated the town's General Store. McCain's honest and fair business trade served the NC/SC Piedmont red-clay farmers needs to get in their crops until harvest. He often loaned feed, seed, “Dew Anner” (Guano) fertilizer, or whatever they needed until settling up time after harvest. McCain ran the cotton gin and he was a cotton buyer. This store was renovated and today is Maxwell's Tavern. The Livery Stable Mule Barn, W.H Collins & Son business is now Mule Barn Mercantile.
The town of Waxhaw and business community has adopted a universal collective effort that rallies around a “Preserving Our Heritage Festival Theme” while restoring historic buildings and remembering & honoring their past! There is a creative event happening nearly every weekend in Waxhaw. You can see and feel this vibrant, busy activity in the public traffic in Waxhaw. The Pop Top Checkers Tournament is just one example of another Waxhaw weekend event!
Mark kept the Mule Barn likeness in honor and remembrance of his Mother’s Father who owned and operated The Mule Barn Auction. This is a befitting recognition for the checker games which took place there as a favorite pastime, and social gathering place.
During the tournament meeting we decided to keep the traditional way of splitting prize money when multiple tie positions existed by combining the prize money and dividing by the number of tied opponents. The three Pop Top trophies were awarded to the 3-way tie for 1st Place by honor points, which placed Vadym Lapin 1st, Alex Moiseyev 2nd, and Matthew Clark 3rd, but when Vadym and Alex played head-to-head in their first round, Moiseyev won a game off Lapin.
The tournament required a $25 entry fee to play 5 rounds of Swiss-System which is a non-eliminating tournament that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, with fewer rounds where the individual player does not play all the other competitors. Competitors meet one-on-one in each round and are paired using a set of rules designed to ensure that each competitor plays opponents with a similar running score, but does not play the same opponent more than once. The winner is the competitor with the highest aggregate points earned in all rounds. Opponents earn 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. If an odd number of opponents, a “Bye” is awarded to the lowest rated player for round 1 as 3 points, and thereafter to the lowest running point score. If a second “Bye” is awarded to an opponent who already has a “Bye” it is reduced to 2 points, and thereafter if multiple “Byes” are awarded.
Each round was 1½ hours long which allowed two 45 minute games. Time clocks were available to be set as 20 minutes + 3 seconds per move per side for the GDT North American time clock.
Everyone enjoyed their free lunch in the back yard cook-out shelter area of Mule Barn Mercantile. This was a short walk from Waxhaw Woman's Club to the Mule Barn Mercantile. They served delicious grass fed grilled burgers, baked beans, chips, and all the trimmings, homemade vanilla ice cream with various toppings like strawberry, pineapple, & blueberry. They also served sweet and unsweetened ice tea.
Waxhaw Woman’s Club furnished fresh hot coffee, chilled bottled water during the tournament. Lana Rayevskyy brought two delicious cakes to the tournament.
We appreciate the creative effort and expense Mark Hernig put into organizing this Pop Top Tournament and bringing checkers to main street Waxhaw. We offer a big “Thank You” to all who help make this a successful tournament, especially the Waxhaw Woman’s Club who generously hosted the tournament. We also appreciate Gayle Smith, our tournament score-keeper and referee.
Karen Johnson, General Manager of Mule Barn Mercantile offered some nice Pop Top Checkers memorabilia as printed T-Shirts, W.H. Collins / Maxwell McCain - First Annual Memorial “Pop Top” Championship Checkers Tournament. Contact: Karen Johnson, 704-698-8920 or MULEBARNWAXHAW1@GMAIL.COM
There were many Waxhaw guests and visitors who dropped in to observe the tournament and signed up for our next year's tournament information.
We expect to see a 100% return for next year, as this was a delightful tournament & wonderful fellowship was had by all who attended.
Some Photos taken at the 2025 Pop Top Open
Tournament Cross-table:
