Greg Toczek has kindly provided the video below showing Wales at the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, India.
 | Welsh Chess Union (Undeb Gwyddbwyll Cymru)Patron: Lord Greg Mostyn |
| Welsh Chess Union (Undeb Gwyddbwyll Cymru)Patron: Lord Greg Mostyn |
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Greg Toczek has kindly provided the video below showing Wales at the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, India.
The Open team consists of the following: Jose Camacho Collados IM The Open Captain will be Marcos Camacho Collados IM The Women’s team consists of the following: Olivia Smith WFM The Women’s Captain will be Brandon Clarke IM We all wish them well. The Chess Olympics was a massive success for the large number of juniors who attended, battling to see who the best variant player was.
The three contenders stood ready at the new puzzles of the final, eyeing up the medals that would be handed out at the end line. With the “go!” sending them rattling off, Trisztan and Oscar stumbled near the start and Jacob took his chance to race forward to gold. In a closely fought battle, Trisztan managed to come in for silver, whilst Oscar took the bronze.
In all, highly enjoyable and excitable for the kids, a different spin on the usual nights at the club and a change from the usual coaching. Definitely something to continue with next year!
The Management Board has recently heard of the passing of John Dawes (Castell Nedd). The Management Board wish to send our commiserations to John’s family and friends. His obituary is below. OBITUARY JOHN DAWES 1933-2024
John Dawes joined the old Neath Club in about 1966 but later transferred his allegiance to the town’s other club, Castell Nedd. He was the kind of solid dependable player that every club needs and, in addition to that he sat on the club committee for many years and helped to run one of the club’s many teams. In 2006 he was voted Clubman of the Year, an honour which reflected all the work that he had done for the club over the previous twelve months. John had a calm and quiet personality but was a very solid player who was a great asset to the club’s second team. On one occasion, he was playing in Briton Ferry. After just half an hour’s play John’s opponent threw the board up in the air, with pieces flying everywhere. The team captain rushed over to find out what had happened and John just commented, “Interesting!” He was a difficult man to beat and had quite a bit of success against strong players in the club’s annual guest simultaneous displays. John was followed into the club by his two grandsons, Adam and James Ridgeway. Outside chess he was an excellent gardener, winning many of the local council gardening awards. He and his wife took part in sequence dancing all their married lives. There is often an argument about whether chess is an art or a science – obviously with John it appealed to his artistic side. He retired from the chess club about fifteen years ago, but will long be remembered. Due to unforeseen circumstances these events have had to be cancelled at very short notice. The Management Board wish to express our regret regarding this which was due to circumstances beyond our control. Some of you will know that on 1st March 2024, FIDE gave an uplift to players at the lower end of their rating list, with no player now receiving a FIDE rating of under 1400, and players between 1000 and 2000 being uplifted to between 1400 and 2000. FIDE ratings are accepted as the ‘gold standard’ of ratings throughout the world, and I have therefore felt it appropriate to also uplift the WCU Junior Rapidplay ratings to fall back more in line with the new uplifted FIDE ratings. Accordingly, and backdated to 1st Jan, the following uplifts have been applied to the Junior Rapidplay ratings list:
Since most players were under 1000 rating, the effect will simply be an addition of 500 to their rating. For those between 1000 and 2000, the effect is to lift them to between 1500 and 2000. For technical reasons I have reduced the K factor for the latter players from 30 to 20 to make for rather less volatility in the ratings of these stronger players, particularly when playing each other. It is my expectation that the WCU main list will also have an uplift applied (probably for the new July 1st rating list), but with many new players coming onto the junior list after the March schools’ team championships it seemed best to uplift the Junior Rapidplay ratings at this stage. Please send any comments/queries to jthornton126@btinternet.com John Thornton (WCU Junior Rapidplay Rating Officer) The WCU Selection Committee will meet in April (a little after the Welsh Championships at Easter) to choose, for both the Open Section and Women’s Section, our team, its captain and reserves. The outcome of the meeting will be announced shortly afterwards. It is expected that this Year’s Olympiad, to be held in an accessible city with a long chess tradition, will prove extremely popular and, as far as Wales is concerned, the WCU’s Easter Congress clearly represents the last chance prospective members of our teams may have of making an impression. The organisers’ website is due to become functional shortly but the basic arrangements are governed by World Chess Federation statute. Both events take the form of an 11-round Swiss system tournament. Four players represent countries in each round, from a squad of five. The organisers pay the accommodation costs of up to five players per team plus those of a non-playing captain in two single and two twin rooms but not travel costs (the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai was an exception). The WCU is unlikely to be in a position to help with these costs, but travel to Budapest should not prove too expensive. Howard Williams Chairman of Selectors It is with considerable sadness that we have learned that Dave Morris of Rhondda Chess Club has passed away. The WCU would like to express our sincere condolences to Dave’s family and friends at this sad time. The funeral details may follow shortly. Dear WCU Chess Colleagues, As you know FIDE have uplifted sub-2000 players to counter inflation over a period of time. We have done extensive analysis to remedy this effect on our ratings. On balance, we are adopting Plan B of the 2 options outlined in the document shown in the link found here: Please see the above link to document which explains the current situation and conclusions therein. David Norris International Rating Officer
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST To all parents of junior players The European Schools Tournament will be held in Limerick University in the Republic of Ireland from May 30th to June 8,th 2024. This is an individual tournament, second in importance only to the European Youth Championship. It travels around Europe each year and will not come this close to Wales again for decades, if at all. The age categories are under seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen and seventeen, all on January 1st, 2024. In each category there is an open tournament and a separate tournament for girls. Entry to the tournament is open, but it must be made through the Welsh Chess Union. The tournament will take the form of a nine round Swiss and the time limit will be all moves in 90 minutes with a 30 second increment from move one. The total cost is 899 euros per person, whether player or accompanying adult. This includes nine nights accommodation in single en-suite rooms in the university, full board from lunch on May 30th to breakfast on June 8th, transport to the tournament venue from either Dublin or Shannon Airport and back, entry fees, registration fees and all taxes. The deadline for registration is Monday, February 19th. Flights have to be booked by then, as the relevant information is required as part of the registration. While the tournament coincides with the half term holiday, it occupies part of two separate weeks, which means that the participants will have to be absent from school for at least two days and probably more. Parents are advised to consult their children’s schools about dates and permission to be absent. You should stress the point that the children are representing Wales in an international tournament. This is bigger than the rugby Six Nations! Expressions of interest are requested by Monday, January 22nd. Please contact the WCU Director of Junior Chess, Mr. Ian Eustis. (e mail: ianrhos@hotmail.com).
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