Draughts association to host first tournament

The newly formed Antigua & Barbuda Draughts Association (ABDA) will host its inaugural tournament later this month.
This is according to President Trevor Cranston who said the tournament, dubbed the Cool & Smooth/Foster Jonas Invitational, will be played on a round-robin basis and will pit some of the best draughts players here against each other.
“We’ll be doing a round-robin so basically in each division you will have four persons coming out. The first and the second with the highest points will play for the number one position and the second placed and the third and fourth positions will vie for that third position coming out of that competition,” he said.
The tournament, slated to run from July 21-25, will be governed by a number of international rules but according to Cranston, one of the main guidelines deals with the habit of huffing.
Huffing is effected if a player notices that the opponent had failed to capture (jump) when the option was open (even if the offending piece had already captured one or more pieces that turn), the player can huff the offending piece before the next move is made and it is removed from the board.  
“Even at the taxi stand, you see guys huffing and you see guys getting upset so there is no huffing making cutting mandatory. It is the duty of the referee to let you know that hey, you missed that so you have to cut and no huffing will be allowed in ABDA’s sanctioned tournament,” the president said.
Following the invitational tournament, Cranston said, the draughts association will turn its attention to a national competition that will see winners taking home cash prizes.
“This will be our big national tournament and in this tournament we will be declaring our national masters champion, our seniors champion and our intermediate national champion. In terms of the sponsorship for this national tournament, may I big up Mr Raymond ‘Rocco Man’ Leadeatte who is one of our local contractors; he had promised that he will be sponsoring that upcoming tournament for independence,” he said.
Registration for the tournament is $20 for draughts association members while non-members will pay $30. The tournament will be played at the Pitch Bar & Restaurant located on Wireless Road and will run from 6:30 to 10 nightly.