Welsh Chess Union (Undeb Gwyddbwyll Cymru)

Kevin O’Rourke RIP

Kevin O’Rourke was a member of the Caerphilly Chess Club for many years. Until recently he was a captain of one of the Caerphiiily league teams until lockdown and also took part in many Congresses. He was keen to show everyone the metal chess set he made.

Kevin passed away on 20 January at his home in Senghenydd. His funeral is on Wed 1st February at Thornhill Crematorium Cardiff at 2-15 pm. And afterwards at Manor Parc hotel which is nearby. If any of your members would like to attend they would be very welcome.

The Funeral Directors are Thomas of Cardiff Road, Caerphilly.

Attention all Senior members!

The WCU is keen to promote Senior Chess Events.

There are a number of opportunities coming up including World and European Team events for over 50s and over 65s. These have proved very popular over the last few years.

If you’d like to be kept informed about these events, please contact Mark Adams via executivedirector@welshchessunion.uk and I will add you to an email distribution list

2022-2023 WCPL

The WCPL website showing the regulations can be viewed here

2022 Welsh U14, 12, 10 and 8 Rapidplay Championship Results

UNDER 14

1^st Tabitha Ryan

2^nd Timur Ramzan

3^rd Csombor Hanczar

UNDER 12

1^st Emma Kong

2^nd Govind Anandmumar

3^rd Vismuth Prabhu

Under 10 Champion Louise Davies

UNDER 8

1^st Mabon Hanczar

2^nd Constantine Popov

3^rd Ben El-Shahaweny

4^th Willow Yeo

Ray Angle RIP

Ray Angle died peacefully early today with his family around him.

Funeral details will follow in due course.

Ray stepped away from chess a few years ago. He was in his mid eighties. He had been a stalwart member of the Pentyrch Chess Club since 1989. He was also for a long time the club’s webmaster, having set up the website. Ray’s father-in-law, Arthur Griffiths, was the first Welsh Chess Champion. (That document is publicly available on the Pentyrch Community Council website – pentyrch.cc – under “History”, “Archive”.)

The funeral will be held on Wednesday 4 January 2023 at 1.45pm in St Catwg’s Church, Pentyrch followed by cremation at 3.00pm at Thornhill.

Alun James RIP

It is with sadness that I have to announce the passing of former Cardigan chess club member Alun James. He passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family on Sunday the 27th November. Alun, father of former Welsh Ladies Chess champion Diana Adams, was a key member of Cardigan chess club for many decades. He was a close friend of the late T Llew Jones with whom he built a keen rivalry over the board which lasted for many years. He’ll be sorely missed by family and friends. RIP.

Mark Adams. Executive Director.

2022 West Wales Congress Report

This year’s Congress was the first since 2019 with the COVID blight having prevented it taking place since then. The event was well attended and everyone seemed pleased to be taking part in an over the board weekend chess again. The 63 entries exceeded the target number the Congress was costed at meaning the congress was financially self-sufficient.

The Open section went as gradings suggested being won by the top seed Alex Golding, the brother of James Golding who plays for Noah’s Yard and who also did well, scoring 3 points. Adam Musson came joint second with the very good score of 4 out of 5 and might well have done better if he hadn’t lost to Yogesh, a player from Singapore graded only 1375. Apparently, grades are a lot lower in Singapore!

Name	Club	Grade	Fide No	Score	Prize
Alex Golding	Guildford	2312	427241	4.5	1st
Adam Musson	Morriston	2111	424455	4	2nd =
Sam Jukes	Cardiff	2028	37413	4	2nd =
Yogesh Vivek Shelgaonkar	Cardiff University	1375	5825806	3	GP

The Major tournament Was a very tight affair at the top with no one scoring more than 4 points. Sadly, from our local perspective the prizes were dominated by English based players. However, Neil Stuart played strongly throughout the tournament, ending on 3 points, just losing out in the last round to one of the joint winners.

Name	Club	Grade	Score	Prize
William Phillips	Hatch End	1734	4	1st =
Ganesh Balaji Kadalarasan	Uxbridge	1593	4	1st =
David Williams	Downend + Fishponds	1609	3.5	3rd =
Brendan O-Gorman	DHSS	1734	3.5	3rd =

The Minor results were the complete opposite of the major with all prizes being won by Welsh base players amongst whom the pride of place must go to Vismith Prabhu of White Knights who scored a dominant 4 points in a very tight field. Other local prize winners were Lysa Brooks of Swansea University who shared a very creditable 2cnd place and Andrew Hugh Powell of Castell Nedd who also did well to share the Grading Prize.

Name	Club	Grade	Score	Prize
Vismith Prabhu	White Knights	1170	4	1st
Ben Bickford		0	3.5	2nd =
Lysa Brooks	Swansea University	0	3.5	2nd =
Alex Kennedy	North Cardiff	1427	3.5	2nd =
Curtis Lawson Reid	Caerphilly	1126	3	GP
Andrew Huw Powell	Castell Nedd	1023	3	GP
Stephen Maguire	Barry	952	3	GP

Thank you very much to all who took part and made this a successful and fun Congress.

Thanks to Brendan O’Gorman for providing the photos which can be viewed here.

The games are now on the Games page.

North Wales Training Day 19th November 2022

FM Jonathan Blackburn will be hosting a Training Day in Llangollen on 19th November.

All adults and Juniors are welcome. Details here.

Wales has a World Chess Champion!

As part of the IFC Intellectual Chessboxing Club event held in Paris on 1st October 2022, Carl Strugnell defeated the WCBO World Champion Jules Alois Julien in a Light Heavyweight Under 85 Kg title fight.

Therefore, Carl Strugnell is now the WCBO Light Heavyweight World Chessboxing Champion.

Congratulations Carl!

Carl’s bout is here.

John Stanley Strange RIP

Sadly, the WCU can report that on Wednesday 21st September, John passed away after a short illness. He was 75 years old.

Originally joining Swansea Chess Club in the 1970’s, John enjoyed playing chess for a few years. He then took a time out away from chess to concentrate on his other interests. In the last few years, he rekindled his chess playing joining De La Beche Chess Club.

John was a softly spoken gentle and very kind person who made many friends in the West Wales Chess League over the years.

The WCU would like to send our sincere condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.

His funeral will take place on Wednesday October 10th at Margam Crematorium at 12 noon. Donations to be made in lieu, on behalf of John to Maggie’s Swansea c/o Mr. Rhys Maggs of The Cimla Funeral Home, 112, Cimla Road, Neath, SA113UD. Further enquiries please call 01639 769500.

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