I would like to apologise to Welsh chess players for the current slowness in getting your games rated since July 1st.
As you probably know, Robert Taylor hung up his boots after 12 years of sterling work as National Rating Officer and was replaced by myself. He also resigned from his job as Gwent rating officer, as did Pete Heaven (East Glam) and Glyn Sinnett (West Wales). Only two of these three zones have found new rating officers (Ben Rowlands in West Wales and Edwin Allen in East Glam) and so we are struggling to cope with the extra workload. The problem is unfortunately most acute in the two zones with the greatest number of players – East Glam and Gwent.
I have personally had some fantastic help from Robert and Pete and I can promise that the situation *will* be turned around. In the meantime I hope that you will not find the delays in rating too intolerable – they won’t last for long!
We are still, of course, looking for an enthusiastic person to take over the Gwent vacancy. Please get in touch if you are interested!
Paul Orton, National Rating Officer ratingofficer@welshchessunion.uk
