Welsh Chess Union (Undeb Gwyddbwyll Cymru)

2023-24 WCU Fees announced

WCU fees 2023-24

At the Special General Meeting of the Welsh Chess Union held on Sunday 16^th July 2023 it was unanimously decided to increase WCU membership fees from 1^st September 2023 to the following rates:

Category of Member	Membership Fees from 1-9-23
Existing WCU Adult member	£20
Existing WCU Junior member (under 18 on 1/9/2023)	£10
New WCU Adult member (for their first season)	£10
New WCU Junior member (under 18 on 1/9/2023, for their first season)	£5

WCU membership can be arranged either through your club or directly with the WCU membership secretary by completing the WCU Member application form 2023-24 here.

2023 World Junior Rapid and Blitz Championships Sardinia, Italy

This event has an entry deadline of 15th September.

Any junior interested in competing should contact the International Director, Peter Bevan

Email:

European Seniors Team Championships Over 65

Wales Cymru are representing Wales in this event which is being held in Swidnica, Poland between 12th and 20th July.

The team comprises Rudy Van Kemenade, Charles Higgie, Lee Davis and Anthony Hughes.

We wish them well.

Full results are here:

A new online channel has been created by Welsh players FM Jonathan Blackburn, CM Alex Bullen & FM Ioan Rees meeting most Thursdays at 10pm discussing Welsh chess, chess improvement, international chess, and anything chess related!

Join them live here:

Or watch on record here:

If you have something related to Welsh chess or any questions for the team then we want to know about it!

Send us an email at welshchesschat@gmail.com

Norman Speak RIP

It is with considerable sadness that we have learned that Norman Speak died on Wednesday 26th April 2023. Norman was a stalwart of the Upper Killay Chess Club making regular appearances for the club over many many years. He was playing for the Harriers as recently as mid March and his death has come as a shock to many of us. He will be sorely missed.

Robert Taylor Obituary

As many of you know Robert Taylor sadly passed away on the 10 April 2023 (Easter Monday).

He was a great character, filled with a passion for chess and helped young and older players learn the fundamentals of the game. He was also a proficient ‘Go’ player too and used to play at a club in Bristol.

Robert was born and brought up in Grange Town, Cardiff and had very fond memories of the place and he went to Cardiff Grammar School for Boys, a place which frowned on those from Grange Town. However, he got to learn chess at his school which sparked the lifelong passion. While not keen, he persisted at school and moved on to start a degree course in Chemistry though he didn’t complete his many degrees until sometime later.

He moved to Newport and got involved with the Chess club there, in fact, after some time he ran the club single-handedly and taught chess to anyone who was interested.

He was a strong player, reaching grades well in excess of 2000 ELO and winning many tournaments including the Gwent Championship many times. He also loved to travel and went to many countries to play in Chess tournaments particularly in the Eastern European regions.

In later life, he became Rating Officer for Gwent and then for Wales as well as being the FIDE approved Wales International Rating Officer. His skills in programming became useful as he designed and wrote the ground-breaking code which calculates the Welsh grades and is still used to this day.

He is a legend in Welsh Chess circles and he will be greatly missed.

2023 Welsh Rapid / Blitz Champ Results

FRANK HATTO MEMORIAL WELSH RAPIDPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

PRIZE LIST

1^st =	Jose Camacho Collados Daniel Kozusek	5	£100 each
3^rd =	Tom Brown Alex Bullen Ifan Rathbone-Jones Grzegorz Toczek	4½	£10 each
U18 / U16	Kristan Enoch	3½	£50
U1800	Simon Blackmore Callum Davies	4	£20 each

WELSH BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP

PRIZE LIST

1^st	Daniel Kozusek	11	£120
2^nd	Jose Camacho Collados	9½	£80
3^rd	Rudy Van Kemenade	8½	£40
1800 – 1500	Madged Bani Hani Ethan Chung Duncan MacDonald Samuele Scarpignato	6	£6.25 each
Under 1500	Yaroslav Sharhorodsky	6	£25

Robert Graham Taylor RIP

Robert Taylor was a member of the Malpas Chess Club and was the International Rating Officer for the Welsh Chess Union.

His sudden passing will leave a substantial hole in many member’s lives throughout Wales. He was always generous with his time spent on ensuring member’s ratings (both national and, in recent times solely, international) were accurate for many years.

Robert passed away on 10 April in hospital. The WCU wishes to offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends on their sad loss.

Funeral details to follow.

2023 A O Jones Rapidplay Results

West Wales Chess League

AO Jones Rapidplay

Saturday 1^st April 2023

The annual West Wales Chess League Rapidplay was played at Upper Killay Recreational Hall, Saturday 1^st April 2023.

38 players attended on the day, 13 more than last season. Ian Eustis & Joel Chung were arbiters on the day.

We’ve opened the event up to non WWCL players for a few years and this time attracted players from 3 WCU zones as well as a couple of players who joined WCU just to play this event. The AO Jones trophy is awarded to the highest placed member of WWCL.

Open Section

The Open had 21 entrants, 12 from WWCL, 8 East Glam & 1 from Dyfed.

Going into the last round top seed Alexis Harakis (Fide Master) was on 4/4 but any of 5 WWCL players were in the running to win the tournament & the AO Jones trophy –

Round 5

Alexis Harakis (FM) 2313 (4) 1 – 0 Adam Musson 2140 (3)
Tom Brown 2112 (3) 1 – 0 Bill Hewitt 2071 (3)
Neil Stuart 1588 (3) 0 – 1 Alan Young 2092 (3)
Moss McCarthy 2015 (3) 1 – 0 Sam Jukes 2061 (3)

Final scores

1^st Alexis Harakis (Steynton) 5/5

=2^ndAlan Young (White Knights)

Moss McCarthy (Morriston)

Tom Brown (Cardiff) 4/5

The AO Jones trophy was shared between Alan Young & Moss McCarthy.

U-1800 grading prize Yaroslav Sharhorodsky (Cardiff)

Neil Stuart (Morriston)

Mike Hollyman (Rhondda) 3/5

Fide Master Alexis Harakis was a worthy winner, beating Sam Jukes, Alan Young, Bill Hewitt & Adam Musson in successive rounds. Three East Glam players under 1500 entered the open with Mike Hollyman (1364) sharing the U-1800 grading prize.

Under 1500

The U-1500 had 17 entrants, 11 from East Glam but only 6 from WWCL. After 5 rounds Bill Davies (Rhondda, WCU grade 1115) emerged the winner, followed by Paul Bevan (Morriston).

Final scores

1^st Bill Davies (Rhondda) 4.5/5

2^nd Paul Bevan (Morriston) 4/5

3^rd Vismith Prabhu (White Knights),

Curtis Reid (Caerphilly)

Govind Anandkumar (North Cardiff) 3.5/5

U-1100 grading prize Ethan Jenkins (Rhondda) 3/5

AO Jones Organiser

Bill Hewitt

U2400 Congress & Welsh U16,13 & 11 Results

Welsh Junior Championships

4th-5th March 2023

Under 16 Champion

Yuxuan Wu

Trophy + £40

Under 13

Champion	Farouq Nasir & David Belochkin	Trophy each
3rd	Csege Hanczar	Trophy

Under 11

Champion	Lucas Zheng	Trophy
2nd	Bethan Mattingley	Trophy
3rd	Mabon Hanczar & Adam Sarwar	Trophy each

Under 2400

1st	Alex Bullen	£200
2nd	Hugo Fowler, Tim Kett, Reginald Mba, Ayodele Sadiq, Daniel Wilmot, Alan Young	£30 each
1800-1500	Mateusz Gibiec, Leon Jansen Van Rensburg, Yuxuan Wu	£14 each
1499-950	Joseph Browse	£40