Draughts champion Donald aiming for first Scottish Open success
A draughts champion from Caithness is hoping to win the Scottish Open for the first time this month – half a century after taking up the game competitively.
Donald Oliphant has enjoyed many tournament successes in the UK and beyond, and celebrated his first English Open victory earlier this year, but the Scottish Open title has so far eluded him.
“It took me 50 years to win that English title," said Donald (66), formerly of Lyth. "I have tried many times at the Scottish title. I've been second quite a number of times but never quite managed it.”
He will be among up to 20 competitors at the event in Stonehaven's Legion Scotland club from September 25-29.
When asked about his prospects, Donald said: “You always fancy your chances, but there are two good players coming over from Barbados this year – and there's talk that the current world champion Lubabalo Kondlo, who is South African, might be coming.
“We've got 16 definite confirmations and there are four other possibilities, so we're hoping for 20."
Games are contested on a league basis using the Swiss scoring system.
“We play 10 rounds of draughts with two games per round," Donald explained.
Players have a maximum of 45 minutes each to finish their game, so each contest must be concluded within an hour and a half.
Donald was a regular player in Halkirk Draughts Club from the age of 16. He left for Aberdeen in 1993, staying there for five years before moving to England.
He has been secretary/treasurer of the Scottish Draughts Association since 1992.
Donald won the Caithness championship many times before leaving the county.
In 2004 he became the first German champion and successfully defended that title in 2005. In that same year he became the first Danish champion.
His other titles before the English Open included the Welsh Open, the East of Scotland Open, the Lancashire championship and the Midlands championship. He was the first winner of a now defunct European championship.
Having worked for many years in the construction industry, Donald is now retired and living in Warrington. His brother Alex still farms at Lyth.
A range of skills are needed to compete at the highest level of the game, Donald pointed out.
“It takes many attributes to become a top elite draughts player – visualisation, memory, a doggedness to win, to be able to accept defeat and move forward," he said. "But the main ones are study and practice.
“I've got over 200 draughts books. I take a book out and study lines of play and try to memorise positions, stuff like that.
“It is called a game but we've tried for years to get it recognised as a sport. But we suffer along with chess that sport is defined as something that has exercise to it.”
The English Open was played over five days in April at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Donald took the title with a score of 32 points from a possible 44.
Others competing at the English Open included Addie Harper (Wick), who finished fourth, and Lamont Inkster (Kirkwall), who took fifth place.