Fife’s forgotten world draughts champion honoured at new tournament in Kelty

Kelty miner, Robert Stewart was the world draughts champion from 1922-33.

Now, 100 years on, his remarkable achievements are to be honoured with the launch of the Scottish Draughts Championship which will be held as part of his home town’s Scottish Coal Carrying Championship.

It will feature current British champion, Shane McCosker.

He will take on all local players on a show of his skills on Thursday, August 25, before taking part in the Robert Stewart Memorial tournament.

Anyone can sit down at a draughts board with Shane - competition gets underway at Kelty Community Centre from 7:00pm.

The memorial event takes place the following day and is open to members of the Scottish Draughts Association and those with an official draughts ranking.

Robert reportedly lost only two out of 8000 games and was otherwise unbeaten at draughts for 21 years.

Stewart was known to take a pocket set of draughts with him wherever he went and was so engrossed in finding his own signature ‘killer move’ that he frequently failed to greet relatives and friends in the street.

His prowess as a chess player was never tested, but Stewart once beat a world grandmaster – in a game of draughts – before pocketing the princely sum of £10.

The events form part of the 2022 Scottish Coal Carrying Championships.

Founded in 1995, the annual Scottish Coal Carrying Championships was created by Michael Boyle, whose aim was to create an enduring link between the modern day village and its rich coal mining heritage.

The race for men requires participants to carry a 50-kilo bag of coal, while those taking part in the ladies’ race have to carry a 25-kilo bag of coal over 1,000 metres through the village.

There are also races for children carrying a 15-kilo bag of coal.

The event is sponsored by National Pride UK, new owners of the neighbouring St Ninians former opencast mine, have plans to develop an ecologically friendly and environmentally sensitive health, wellness and leisure destination at the site.