Welsh Chess Union (Undeb Gwyddbwyll Cymru)

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^nd                                          Alan 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

The WCPL website showing the regulations can be viewed here

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!

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.  

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. 

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.