The annual West Wales Chess League Rapidplay event began in 1976 and was held this year at Upper Killay Recreational Hall as a 5 round swiss with each player having 30 minutes on the clock (no increments). The event clashed with the first weekend of the 6 nations rugby, which resulted in a few less players than expected.
31 players attended on the day, including 4 players from Gwent and 8 from East Glamorgan.
Jason Garcia & Bill Hewitt shared 1st place on 4.5/5, sharing the AO Jones trophy.
3rd = were Moss McCarthy & Chris Boyd on 4/5. Last years winner Ian Jones was among those on 3.5/5. There were grading prizes at U-1900, U-1650 & U-1400 as well as junior prizes. Some prizes were shared so in all, 17 players won a prize!
Prize Winners
1st= Jason Garcia (White Knights) & Bill Hewitt (White Knights)
3rd = Moss McCarthy (Morriston) & Chris Boyd (Gwent)
U-1900 Dai James (Pontypridd) & Mark Thomas (White Knights)
U-1650 Huw Jones (De La Beche), Neil Stuart (De La Beche), Ken Wardle (Bridgend),
Robert Davies (Newport) & Gareth Harding (Rhondda)
U-1400 John Strange (De La Beche), Mike Hollyman (Rhondda) & Joe Spooner (Morriston)
Junior 1st Anshul Swamy (North Cardiff), 2nd Joel Chung (Morriston), 3rd Harri Gilbert (Cwmbran)
My thanks to Ian Eustis for controlling the event and members of the Upper Killay club, (Janet Evans, June Evans & Nick Hale) for arranging the venue and supplying equipment on the day. Also to the West Wales Chess League who contributed £50 towards the prize money and paid for the venue.
