American making plans picked up board game piece (9)

I believe the answer is:

draftsman

'american making plans' is the definition.
(US spelling of 'draughtsman')

'picked up board game piece' is the wordplay.
'picked up' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'board game' becomes 'draughts' (draughts is a kind of board game).
'piece' becomes 'man' (man can mean a chess piece).
'draughts' is a homophone of 'drafts'.
'drafts'+'man'='DRAFTSMAN'

(Another definition for draftsman that I've seen is " One who draws up legal documents".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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