Young Kent Layne with some of his Trophies
Kent Layne with some of his trophies

A bio of Kent Layne by Kent Layne as of March, 2021.

Kent Layne a Sportswriter in Barbados who writes in Barbados today online newspaper lives in Bridgetown Barbados. Kent is a Former Barbados Junior Champion and won the Barbados Majors title in 2014 and now plays in the Masters.

Layne 35 years old played in the World Qualifier 2004 Juniors in Barbados finishing 2nd to Usa Player Clayton Nash at 18 years old. Kent had won the Barbados open Juniors playing undefeated that same year.

The Rising Star played in the Masters Barbados open 2015 played undefeated for the first 5 rounds drawing matches with top-class players such as Richard Grazette who won the Tournament defeating Jack Francis in the final, Desmond Maughan Who also defeated Jack Francis in that tournament.

Layne had lost the final 3 rounds but was pleased with his performance first time in the masters.

That same year Kent had gone over to the world Qualifier in Knighton Wales Where he had a score of 2 wins defeating Graham Young of Scotland and John Morgan of Wales 1-0 Drawing 3 matches with Grand Master Jim Morrison, John Jolliff, and Anthony Rose and losing 3 to finish on 14 points 5 points behind 6 guys tied on 19 points, Michele Borghetti Ron King, Richard Beckwith, Kondlo, Bernini and Martynov.

I seem to always lose 3 matches in tournaments something that is haunting me I am working on.

I’m the youngest Master in Barbados and I think I did well so far just looking for more exposure and aiming to play more overseas as they are a lot of Grandmasters who I have not played.

Kent Layne in Action
Kent Layne in Action at WCDF Qualifier in Knighton.

In the 2019 Barbados National Kent had played 6 draws, 1 win, and 3 lost. to score 17 points. Another highlight in 2020 was drawing both games with Grand Master Jack Francis onboard one which was streamed live on the internet a game that had the biggest online audience even more than the Ron King Jack Francis Match.

I was surprised to hear that match had the most people watching since I was the underdog.

Ron King and Carson Farley are the only top players in Barbados who I never got a draw with but I’m looking to work on that as I worked on Jack Francis.

Layne Overseas Tournaments include trips to the USA, Ireland, Wales, and Italy.

I played in the world qualifier in Italy in 2016 which was 3-move. Barbados hardly has 3 move tournaments but I was able to draw one game against World Champion Sergio Scarpetta.

The Highlight of my career is defeating US player Alex Holmes in 2013 with 2-0, Drawing both games with Jim Morrison and Jack Francis, and having one draw with Sergio Scarpetta.

I’m looking forward to the international Zoom 2021 tournament where I will meet a number of Grand Masters. I think this is a good idea because we can’t get to travel during this covid time and it is a historic event as it’s the first time an online tournament will do towards WCDF ratings. The SDA and WCDF should be congratulated for putting together this event.

A game of Kent Layne:

2023 Update by Kent Layne:

Kent Layne stepping up the ranks on the draughts Board.

Barbadian Draughts player Kent layne  displayed a   great year in 2023  when finishing 4th with 21 points in the Scottish open  but was placed  5th  by honor points  behind Joe Slone of Ireland.

Canidate master layne  defeated Irish Players  Sean Phillips and Con Boyle 1-0   and Scottish players Keith Foubister and Graham Young the same score line.

Layne’s only defeats in the tournament were to fellow countrymen grand masters Jack Francis 1-0 and Ron King 2-0.

Layne bounced back and played the game of his life when drawing both games  with Irish Grand Master Shane McCosker who is rated number 9 in the world.

Kent and Ron King were the only players to had drawn with McCosker during the tournament as Layne was respected more around the world  after the match with Shane who is one of the best in the world.

The talented kent  has now drawn matches with 3 grand masters in his career Jim Morrison in the world Qualifier 2015 in Knighton Wales, Jack Francis on 3 occasions Barbados open 2020 Barbados 3 move National 2022, and Barbados 3 move National 2023 as he looks forward to playing more Grand Masters on the board.

I have represented Barbados in the Usa Open, Irish Open and Scottish Open as well as World Qualifiers in Wales, Italy and Turkey.

I have to thank my sponsors Fun in the Sun Racing for making my trip to Scotland possible with out them my career would  not be.

The Barbados National 3 move  showed the class of layne when fighting Grand Master Jack Francis to two draws again and also up setting top rank player Junior ,Post ,Walrond 1-0  to score 14 points in the 7 round tournament   to place 6 of  10 players as round  8 was abandon due to a computer glitch.

Layne would place 6th 0f 10 players winning 2 matches losing 2 and drawn  3 and a career 2nd best rating of 1947  one behind his best rating.

Barbados is known for two world class players In Ron King and Jack Francis but Kent Layne’s explosive moves on the board has the world notching his talent.

Below Grand Shane McCosker and Kent Layne after their drawn match in Scotland.

Kents Draughts Achievements:

  • Barbados Junior Champion
  • Barbados Majors Winner 2014
  • Participant of WCDF Qualifier for Barbados in 2004, 2015 & 2016, 2023

Kent Layne in the news: