Youval Ouaknine, Yoann Quantin, and Antoine l'Heureux (Li 219) won the first edition of the French Grandes Ecoles Checkers Championship, organized by the French Federation on May 27.
From large virtual AUIs to the French Grandes Ecoles Championship
Arts et Métiers the game of checkers: a story that began in 2020 during the Grandes UAI (Grandes Union Athlétiques Intergadzariques)! During that edition, four campuses competed on the checkerboard, with the Bordeaux campus emerging victorious. This year, Lille took its revenge by participating in the first French Grandes Ecoles championship. Facing five other participating schools (ENSG-géomatique, Mines ParisTech, Ecole de l'Air, ESCP Business School, andEcole Navale), three engineering students from Lille took first place. Philippe Jeanneret, vice president of the French Checkers Federation, explains, "With this tournament, we wanted to break down barriers around checkers, a mind sport that is little known in the academic world, and establish it more firmly in this environment. The final was tense, and the suspense was palpable!"After an initial qualifying phase, Youval, Yoann, and Antoine played around fifteen games. Three additional games had to be played to decide between the Naval Academy and Arts et Métiers team. The future engineers can savor their victory!
Towards an innovative checkerboard?
Youval, an engineering student Arts et Métiers, has been playing checkers since he was six years old. Passionate about the game, he proposed a project to his teachers and classmates as part of his studies: to design an electronic checkerboard that would allow for semi-virtual, semi-face-to-face games adapted for visually impaired people. Supervised by Christophe Giraud-Audine and Philippe Costes, teachers at the Lille campus, this project led to the creation of a full-scale prototype that was tested. The students now hope that their passion for checkers will motivate other students in the years to come.
