An­der­son "Andy" Charles re­cent­ly be­came the third per­son from T&T to earn a Draughts Mas­ter ti­tle from the world gov­ern­ing body, F�d�ra­tion Mon­di­ale du Jeu de Dames (FMJD).

Charles joins na­tion­al cham­pi­on Dick­son Maughn and mul­ti­ple ti­tle hold­er An­tho­ny Aqui as the lone hold­ers of the ti­tle. There are two oth­er de­grees in which a play­er can reach, the In­ter­na­tion­al Mas­ter and the Grand Mas­ter, none of which have ever been at­tained by a T&T na­tion­al.

Charles, who has been in­volved in the game for over 30 years, placed eighth in a pool of 20 at the Pan Amer­i­can Draughts Cham­pi­onship, held at Cas­ca­dia Ho­tel, St Ann's from Feb­ru­ary to March this year. The event was won by Brazil's Al­lan Sil­va, while Maughn fin­ished fourth. It was Charles's sixth in­ter­na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion in eight years, af­ter de­but­ing at the Pan Amer­i­can Cham­pi­onship in Mon­tre­al, Cana­da in 2005, where he placed sixth.

A res­i­dent of Laven­tille, Charles be­lieves there is still a num­ber of pos­i­tives com­ing out of the com­mu­ni­ty and has urged more young per­sons to get in­volved in con­struc­tive ac­tiv­i­ty such as draughts.

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