My Young Years by the side of Harm Wiersma and Ton Sijbrands, Future World Champions.

It is convenient to observe the youth group of the Brinta Tournament of 1963/1964, because it would be the start of forthcoming world champions. The author of this book was the youth champion of The Netherlands and he also participated in this event. Ton Sijbrands won the tournament with 16 points and had only two draws; one against Harm Wiersma and the other against Bert Holt. The author lost to Harm Wiersma and Ton Sijbrands, which was enough for him to tell the whole world that these two players would be future world champions. Ton Sijbrands accomplished this feat in 1972 and 1973. However, the achievements of International Grandmaster Harm Wiersma are better still. He was six times world champion in the years 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1983-1984. On the other hand he was Europe’s champion in 1999 before Ton Sijbrands! What makes Harm Wiersma so unique and attractive is the fact that he is virtually the only businessman among the draught players, and the author considers him a very good businessman - a real fighter with the right attitude. Many of the strategies and tactics used in draughts are applicable to business situations and this book is the proof to that.