The Newport Chess Congress 2025 concluded on Sunday 17th Aug having achieved its best attendance so far over the 3 years it’s been running.
OPEN Section (32 players)
A fantastic result for NM Aron Saunders (3rd seed) of Bristol on 4.5/5 to win the Open competition. A win in the final round against Haroon Majeed (Fishponds and Downend) would have secured Aron’s CM title but alas the battle resulted in a draw. Equal second place was therefore shared by Haroon Majeed and current British U12 Champion Zack Norris (Wotton Hall) on 4/5 who managed to beat 2nd seed Lahende Ndhlova of Zambia. The Robert Taylor Trophy for the highest placed Welsh person this year goes to Allan J Pleasants.
Major Section (61 players)
A win by Leon Nelson of Wells against a great performance by 20th seed Steve Jones of Barry secured Leon’s win of the Major section and also scooping the Junior Prize for England. A tough battle between David McGhee (3rd seed) and English junior Albert Hornsby (14th seed) ended in a draw meaning they claimed 2nd place with Callum Smith of North Cardiff and Jon Tuson of Aberystwyth, all on 4 points. The Junior prize for Wales was won by Wales’ Yaroslav Sharhorodsky on a great 3 points – well done!.
Minor Section (42 players)
A perfect 5/5 score meant that Cardiff’s Sebastian Hoccom (15 year old) beat top seed David Mcgeeney to win this years Minor tournament so well done to a fantastic performance by Seb (He also wins the Junior prize for Wales). This meant that we had a tie for second place between David Mcgeeney (1st seed), Jonathan Cartwright and Pontypridd’s own Robert Wallace. Well done to you all. The Junior Prize for England goes to Lucian Horton-Dewing – well done too!
Final Remarks
We would like to gratefully thank the Newport City Council for providing funding for this special event and to the John Robinson Youth Trust Fund for supporting Juniors within this tournament.
The spacious venue was said, by a great number of players, to be ‘fantastic’, ‘well air-conditioned’ (a popular feature in Summer) with a ‘reasonably priced cafe’ and the tournament was ‘very well organised’. Even though it is only the third year running, the Newport Chess Congress’ is, and has been, the best supported Congress in Wales. Thank you Wales and also to our England neighbours who supported us in droves and achieved well here!
