2022 Welsh Championship Entry Form now available

The 2022 Welsh Championship Entry Form can be viewed here.

Len Skinner RIP

It is  with great sadness that news has reached the WCU that Len Skinner, Bridgend Chess Club, East Glamorgan passed away over the weekend of 6th-7th March 2022.

Len was a long serving member of Bridgend Chess Club although due to his age etc he had not been a regular at the club for a few years (he last played for the club on 1st February 2016). Despite this, when Len was a regular member he was a top level player and many players around East Glamorgan will be familiar with him and his achievements.

WCU All-Play-All for Olympiad Selection event in Bridgend 6th, 12th and 13th March

Following the long absence of over-the-board activities during the past two years, the Selection Committee in consultation with the WCU Management Board agreed to hold a all-play-all event over two weekends in March to assist the selectors in determining the current strength and form of the strongest players in Wales prior to selection for the Olympiad which was due to take place in Moscow but will now be held somewhere else possibly India.

Therefore, on 6th March 2022 the first round of the WCU All-play-all took place in Bridgend.

Rounds 2 and 3 will take place on 12th March and Rounds 4 and 5 on 13th March.

The cross table is available here.

The games are available for download from here.

Ukraine Statement

 
The Welsh Chess Union (WCU) was recently asked by FIDE to give an opinion regarding our view on international chess relationships with Russia. Belarus has now been included in this discussion. On February 27, 2022, an extraordinary meeting of the FIDE Council was held regarding the current situation and what urgent measures should be taken after the military action launched by Russia in Ukraine.
 
We fully support the FIDE Council’s decisions that the 44th Olympiad and other events that were to be held in Russia, including the FIDE Congress and also events in Belarus, will now not take place there. 
 
We note and support the International Correspondence Chess Federation’s (ICCF) stance that allows all Ukrainian players to pause their games for the time being, without penalty. However, we urge the ICCF to consider a total ban on all Russian and Belarusian players forthwith. This follows the lead taken by FIFA, the World and European Draughts Federations, amongst others.
 
 
Mark Adams
 
WCU Executive Director

2022 European Schools Chess Championship, Rhodes, 20th-30th April 2022

DEADLINE 25th FEBRUARY

An invitation has been received by the WCU to compete in the 2022 European Schools Chess Championships in Rhodes, Greece between 20th-30th April 2022.

More information can be found here.

Anyone interested in competing needs to contact Ian Eustis (e-mail: ianrhos@hotmail.com) by 25th February 2022.

21-22 Welsh Championship and South Wales International dates confirmed

The dates can be viewed on the Calendar

WCU Invitational all play all event(s)

At a recent Management Board Sub-Committee meeting which included Howard Williams, the Chairman of Selectors, it was agreed that due to the lack of OTB practice players had experienced during the pandemic, an all play all event or several should be held to assist the Selection Committee in selection for the Olympiad.

As a result, invitations have now been made to the relevant players regarding the events which will take place in the Bridgend area over the weekends of 4th-6th March and 11th-13th March.

Should there be 6 players or less that accept the invitation, then only one weekend (11th-13th March) will be held.

There is no entry fee pr prize money for these events.

Juniors return to OTB J4NCL action

As the restrictions in England has been lifted the over the board Junior 4NCL has commenced in England. Laetitia Davies has been looking after the Welsh Dragons teams together with some help from myself. 

Weekend 1:

The 1st weekend took place at the Woodlland Grange, Leamington Spa from 24th to 26th of September 2021. Wales were represented with 2 teams. Team A played in div 1 and found it very tough coming back to OTB chess. They finished at a very low position of 9th out of 10 teams with 3 points.  We only manged to make the required grades and were the lowest rated team in the division. The players in no playing order were Yuxuan Wu 3 points,  Edward Swartz 0.5 points, Joe Conway-Lees who was a borrowed player from Staffodshire 1 point, Ben Jaberansari 1 point, Milo Davies 3.5 points.

The B team played in div 2 where the players did perform much better than the A team.  They finished 6th in the table out of 12 teams with 5 match points, 1 point behind the 3rd place team. The players again in no playing order were Tom Davies 3 points, Oliver Sapsford 3 points, Ethan Challoner 3 points and Louise Davies who shared the last board with another English player.

Weekend 2:

 

Players taken part on weekend 2: Benjamin Jaberansari, Louise Davies, Tom Davies, Milo Davies, Bence Szakmany, Joe Conway- Lees, Oliver Sapsford, Khushi Bagga, Will Roberts, Joseph Roberts

The 2nd weekend took place this weekend the 5th and 6th of January at the Holiday inn South Normanton. Once again, we had two teams which took part, one in each division. Both teams performed much better than the 1st weekend improving both in their game and match scores.

Welsh Dragons Green played in div one which consisted of 14 teams. The Welsh dragons team finished 11th with 4 match points. The players were Bence Szakmany 1 point, Joe Conway Lees (Eng) 2.5points, Milo Davies 2 points Tom Davies 3 points.

Welsh Dragons Red played in div 2 and manged to finish 5th out of 10 teams with 5 match points. In the process they only lost one match. The players were Oliver Sapsford 4 points, Ben Jaberansari 3 points, Khushi Bagga 1.5 points, Will Roberts 3 points.  Joseph Roberts and Louie Davies also completed in all the reserve games to gain the much-needed experience.

Weekend 3 will be taking place in April 2022.

2022 European Individual Championships Slovenia 26/3/22-7/4/22

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

DEADLINE 8th FEBRUARY 2022

This announcement invites all WCU members, registered as Welsh with FIDE, to let us know by 8 February whether they may be interested in taking part in this event by e-mailing Peter Bevan (internationaldirector@welshchessunion.uk).

Details of Event

This event will take place in Brezice, Terme Catez, Slovenia from 26 March 2022 (date of arrival) to 7 April (date of
departure). More detailed information is available here.

Briefly, the WCU has not been represented at this event since 2013 but this is an exciting opportunity to play in a high-level event like this so it is an event the WCU should encourage it’s members to participate in wherever possible. Details of accommodation costs and the transportation / registration charge are given in the website announcement. Sadly the WCU is only able to contribute to pay for one player’s entry fee which is 100 Euros. Should more than one member accept the invitation then the WCU contribution would remain at 100 Euros but be split amongst the welsh participants. 

COVID-19

As of 30 January 2022, Slovenia is on the Green List so there is no requirement to quarantine. Obviously, the situation may change before the event takes place. Entry requirements for Slovenia can be found here.

Please take this into consideration before booking anything as the WCU can not be liable for any refund as this will be a personal decision by the individual to travel. 

 

CSC Teaching Salaried Opportunity (Cardiff and Barry)

Due to staff illness, Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) is looking for a tutor to teach chess in seven primary schools in the Cardiff and Barry area. The work involves delivering chess lessons to full classes of children, supported by school staff, and running after-school chess clubs. Previous experience of working with children would be an advantage and is preferred but is not necessary – CSC will offer full training to the successful candidate including a free place on a CSC training course and shadowing an experienced tutor.

The contract will be temporary initially, commencing after February half term until the Easter break, with the possibility of it being extended and/or expanded to other schools. The schools and times are:

Whitchurch Primary School, Cardiff, Mondays 1pm-3pm

Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff, Tuesdays 12.45pm-3.15pm

Grangetown Primary School, Cardiff, Thursdays 9am-12pm

Ton Yr Ywen Primary School, Cardiff, Thursdays 1pm-3.30pm

Jenner Park Primary School, Barry, Fridays 11am-12pm

Oak Field Primary School, Barry, Fridays 1pm-2pm

Evenlode Primary School, Penarth, Fridays 3.30pm-4.15pm

 

Total: 12.75hrs per week. Pay: £310 + travel expenses

 

For more details, please contact Matt Piper, CSC Acting Coordinator for Wales, matt@chessinschools.co.uk. To apply for the role, please complete the tutor application form here.