The 49th Dyfed open chess congress was held at Fishguard Bay hotel over the weekend of the 14th -16th February. 55 contests played in the two sections the Open and the Major.
The open included 11 players with grades over 2000 and 6 World Chess Federation Masters. Entrants came as far away as Spain, London, Birmingham, Dorchester and Swindon with local clubs well represented – Steynton (8 entries), Cardigan (5), Aberystwyth (4) and Carmarthen (3).
The Winner of the Open was deservedly Alan Young, White Knights Llanelli 4.5/5 (pictured) with Howard Williams (Cardigan) runner up.
Alan started off with a victory against local contestant Martin Jones; with the game evenly posed he found a combination in the end game to start off his winning streak. Two further victories saw him play World Chess Federation Master Sven Zeidler in the third round and this proved a decisive victory for him.
With the white pieces and youth and stamina on his side he held off Howard Williams the highest graded in the last round to tie the game and run out deserved winner.
The grading prizes went to Marin Marin Francisco Javier (Spain) and Gareth Harding (Rhondda)
Its worth noting that Gareth had an excellent win over Iolo Jones and a good draw with Gerry Heap. Special mention should be made of young Alex Laurence of Pontypridd although he lost his three games he was in winning positions in all three but sadly lost out to experienced players in the endgame. His time will come. If he continues in his present form he will certainly be a name to watch in the future.
The Major ended in a three way tie with Mark Paffard (Steynton pictured) defeating the unbeaten Robert Hurn (Caerphilly) in the last round who had a 100% record at the time. With Stephen Chadaway (Church Stretton) also winning all three tied for first place.
Grading prizes in the Major went to Josh Brewer (Cardigan) (under 1500) and Awne Osinga (Cardigan), Gwyn Evans (Steynton) and Paul Bevan (De La Beche) (under 1300).
The tournaments were controlled by Kevin Staveley who organised a 7 round rapid play for the keener players. This was won by Jason Garcia ( White Knights Llanelli ) with Rudy Van Kemenade (Aberystwyth) runner-up.
The games from the Dyfed Open are now available for download from the Games page.
