Announcement of date change for 2018 North Wales Congress (Venue Cymru, Llandudno)

The date of the 2018 congress has been brought forward a week and will now take place Friday 22^nd to Sunday 24^th June.

The change is necessary because Llandudno will be hosting Armed Forces Day 2018 on the weekend we had originally booked. This major national event is expected to attract around 200,000 visitors, which would make accommodation both hard to find and unusually expensive and travel a bit problematic. Also, Venue Cymru is now no longer available (we understand it will be closed for security reasons).

Apologies for any inconvenience to players who have already made plans. Anyone who has already booked accommodation should have no difficulty changing their booking, as hotels will expect to be able to re-fill any cancellations very easily that weekend.

For anyone planning to extend their stay longer than the chess weekend to enjoy some holiday time in North Wales, do bear in mind that while Armed Forces Day itself is on Saturday 30^th June, celebrations begin the week before (Monday 25^th), so you may wish to book early or avoid that particular week.

The amended Entry Form is now available on the Calendar page.

Juniors who have qualified for the 2018 Welsh Junior Championships (Final Table)

The players below can be congratulated as already qualified for the 2018 Welsh Junior championships. We hope they will play regularly in higher rated rapidplay events throughout the season to increase their standard of play in readiness for these Championships.

An updated list of qualifiers should be available on the website within a week of any large WCU organised junior rapidplay event. In the case of any omission now or during the season, please contact John Thornton at john@wcurapidplayratings.co.uk

Congratulations to the following new qualifiers for the Junior Championships after the 1st Junior Congress in Merthyr:

U9 Solomon Baker

U10 William Pennock
U11 Rishi Paul, Vedant Lutchman Singh

Congratulations also to the following whose revcent results have qualified them for the Junior Championships:

U8 top qualifiers: Eliot Baylis and Archie Hewitt

U9 Alex Moat

U11 Lewis Wynn, Evan Layton and Govind Anandkumar

Continue reading Juniors who have qualified for the 2018 Welsh Junior Championships (Final Table)

Glamorgan Under 9s and Under 11s win the Wales and West-of-England jamboree

At the 2018 South Wales and West-of-England jamboree, held at Chepstow School on Saturday 13 January, Glamorgan won the under 9s and under 11s sections. In the under 14s they finished third, behind Gwent and winners Somerset.

Continue reading Glamorgan Under 9s and Under 11s win the Wales and West-of-England jamboree

2018 WCU AGM

The 2018 WCU AGM will be held at Pencoed Welfare Hall on Sunday 4th March 2018 at 2pm.

2018 Olympiad (Batumi, Georgia, 23/9/2018 – 7/10/2018)

Appointment of Non-Playing Captains/Coaches for the Welsh Teams In the Open And Women’s Sections

Expressions of interest, together with details of previous experience and/or other qualifications, are invited for one or other of the two posts – by 28 February to Howard Williams, Chair WCU Selection Committee, Chairmanselectors@welshchessunion.org.uk. The Committee will meet in the first half of April to take the matter forward. Continue reading 2018 Olympiad (Batumi, Georgia, 23/9/2018 – 7/10/2018)

2018 New Year Congress Games

The games from the 2018 New Year Open and Major are now downloadable from the Games page.

Geof Tyrrell Best Game Prize 2017: Approaching deadline

The deadline for entries for the 2017 award is 31 January 2018; so there is still time to nominate a game (which need not have been played by the person making the nomination). The detailed rules can be found here but briefly to qualify for consideration a 2017 game must be a win or a draw by a player qualified to represent Wales in a FIDE competition against a non-Welsh opponent graded over 2250 and FIDE-rated at least 150 points above the entrant at the time the game was played.

Entries should be sent to Howard Williams (howard.swnynant@btinternet.com). Continue reading Geof Tyrrell Best Game Prize 2017: Approaching deadline

2018 New Year Congress Results

There was a three-way tie for first in the Open between Jonathan Blackburn, Tom Brown and Tim Kett.

The Open grading prize was won by Venetia Sivarajasingam

Conor Gay won the Major with Tomasz Miga (2nd) and David Williams, Andrew Di-Vetta, Simon Gay (equal 3rd).

The Major grading prize was won by Susanna Fraser.

Joel Chung won the Minor with Marque Fernando, Edward Mason (equal 2nd).

January 2018 Junior Rapidplay Rating List

The January 2018 Junior Rapidplay Rating List can now be downloaded from the Grades page.

ECU Newsletter December 2017

The December 2017 ECU Newsletter can be viewed here.

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