Draught champ honours dad

ANDERSON CHARLES was taught the game by his father Revers Small, when he was 11 years old, now 25 years later he has used the skills passed on to him to honour the memory of his late dad by winning every major draught tournament he contested last year. Charles has been on the national circuit for the past four years,  and in 2002 made his move on the Trinidad and Tobago National Draught Championships when he finished runner-up  behind the dominant Dickson Maughn. But last year saw victories for Charles in the Port-of-Spain Tournament, the Tailor Memorial hosted in Chaguanas, and his crowning glory the National Draught Tournament where he scored 17 points in the nine-round Swiss Style Tournament to eclipse Maughn, who had not lost a game in five years, relegating him to the runner-up position on 13 points.

Charles played  unbeaten, winning  eight and tying one match to surprise all 18 players involved in the tournament including Maughn,  who saw his half decade unbeaten streak slip through his hands as Charles smiled his way to the championship title. After scaling the ladder of  local success in his discipline, Charles was scheduled  to visit Haiti to compete in a similar tournament but was unable to do so because of  inability to find a  sponsor. Maughn made the journey instead and is currently in fourth position. A resident of John John, East Port-of-Spain, Charles has turned around and is now in the process of using his pull in the draught camp to make a change and highlight the positives of his permanent locale which, he asserts has been the victim of  bad press. With the ambition and a genuine heart toward bettering his area’s image, Charles believes that his campaign now in the developmental stages, can see the use of draught as a tool for rehabilitating his neighbourhood.