14th August 2008 --- Wales Olympiad Squads

The final squads for the Wales Olympiad teams have been announced – and are almost full strength on both sides.

The Mens squad (alphabetically) is ; Jonathan Blackburn, Richard S Jones, Tim Kett, Ioan Rees and Leighton Williams.

The Womens squad (alphabetically) is ; Suzie Blackburn, Megan Owens, Olivia Smith, Julie vanKemenade and Julie Wilson.

The tournament takes place at Dresden, Germany from November 12th -25th.




13th August 2008 – British Championships

Four Welsh players entered the top section of the British Championships held at Liverpool, between 27th July and 9th August.
Tim Kett (Cardiff) scored an excellent 6.5/11, Francis Rayner (Hastings) 4/11, David J James (Atticus) 4/11 and Lee Davis (Barry) 2/11.

68 competitors took part, in which Stuart Conquest beat Keith Arkell in a play-off after both scoring 8/11.



1st July 2008 --- KOCup Finals Day

The KOCup Finals Day was held at Briton Ferry Constitutional Club on Sunday, June 29th, with these results from six finals :

OPEN (Cup) Cardigan 2.5-1.5 Cardiff
OPEN (Plate) Caerphilly 2.5-1.5 Barry
U1800 (Cup) Bridgend 2.5-1.5 North Gwent
U1800 (Plate) Aberdare 3.5-0.5 Penarth
U1500 (Cup) Castell Nedd 3.5-0.5 Newport
U1500 (Plate) Barry 3.0-1.0 Bridgend Jedi

Nidum’s IM Leighton Williams analysed the Open Cup final with 4 demonstration boards in the lounge below for almost 4 hours non-stop – a bravery award at the very least, especially to put up with Rudy van Kemenade – who spent more time analysing after the game than during it !!



6th June 2008 --- Welsh Chess Union Officers

President : Charles Morris
Executive Director : Wilf Arnold
Deputy Executive Director : Bill Harle
Finance Director : Howard Williams
Vice President : T Llew Jones
Home Director : Sarah Kett
International Director : Tim Kett
Junior Director : Ian Eustis
Publicity : Mark Adams
Development : Lee Davis
Director of Ladies Chess: Janet Evans
Grading Officer : Robert Taylor
Chairman of Selectors : Leighton Williams
Fide Delegate : David J James
Chief Arbiter : Peter Purland
Rapidplay Grading Officer : Kevin Staveley
Yearbook Editor : Tony Gutteridge




20th May 2008 --- Annual General Meetings.

The Annual General Meeting of the Welsh Chess Union will be held at Whitchurch High School (Upper) Cardiff on Thursday June 5th 7.30pm.
Also, the Annual General Meeting of the West Wales Chess League will be held at Bishop Vaughan School, Morriston on Friday June 27th 7.00pm.

Many topics to discuss – can members make a great effort to attend and put forward useful ideas – including “Brown Envelope” Gibs !!


13th May 2008 --- Welsh KO Cup finals day.

Finals day will be held at Briton Ferry Constitutional Club, 2 miles south of Neath, where Briton Ferry Chess Club meet on Thursday nights.
The final will be played on Sunday June 29th – where 6 finals will be played – the room has been hired from 12 noon until 6pm.
Open (Cup and Plate), Under 1800 (Cup and Plate) and Under 1500 ( Cup and Plate)
David Merryweather has kindly arranged for the WCU to hold the finals day at this venue.

Round 2 results so far :
Open (Cup)
Cardiff vs White Knights (To be played on 14th May)
Newport 0-4 Cardigan
Open (Plate)
Penarth 1-3 Caerphilly
Barry 3.5-0.5 North Gwent
U1800 (Cup)
Bridgend A 2.5-1.5 Newport
Caerphilly 2.5-1.5 Cardiff
(SFinals to be played by early June are between Morriston vs North Gwent
and Caerphilly vs Bridgend A)
U1800 (Plate)
Malpas 1.5-2.5 Penarth
U1500 (Cup)
Newport 4-0 North Gwent
Penarth 1-3 Cardiff
Caerphilly 2.5-1.5 Pontypool
( SFinals to be played by early June are between Castell Nedd vs Cardiff and Newport vs Caerphilly )
U1500 (Plate)
Aberystwyth 0-4 Bridgend Jedi
Bridgend C 1.5-2.5 Barry



28th April 2008 --- 5th SOUTH WALES INTERNATIONAL OPEN

Anybody interested in playing at the 5th South Wales International Open, contact Mark Adams www.southwaleschess.co.uk – prize money to exceed £3000. This year the venue will be at The University of Glamorgan, Trefforest, Pontypridd from 5th – 10th July.


6th April 2008 --- The 7th and final round of the 2007/08 WCPL.

This season’s WCPL has seen the closest finish yet, with any one of three teams able to win the event, due to the indiscretion of Cwmbran in an earlier round. All will be revealed, when all three matches will be played on the same weekend ie. 26/27th April, when Saturday 26th April, Cwmbran play Cardiff (at Cwmbran), Sunday 27th April, Nidum play Cardigan (at Pontardawe) and Barry play Wrexham (at Llandrindod Wells).


27th March 2008 --- The 54th Welsh Championships

Leighton Williams of Nidum shared the Championship with James Cobb of
Cardiff scoring 6/7.Tim Kett of Cardiff finished 3rd with 5.5/7.
The Ladies and under 21 championship were both won by Suzy Blackburn of
Stoke.

The Major ( under 2050 ) Championship was shared by Paul Hatchett of
Newport and Jason Garcia of White Knights with 6/7.

The Minor ( under 1500 ) Championship was shared by Ashley Davis of Barry,
Bill Wilkins of Cardiff and Vince Williams of North Cardiff with 5.5/7.

There were 75 entries in total.



14th March 2008 --- The 54th Welsh Chess Championships

This year’s Welsh Championships will be held at Whitchurch High School, Cardiff over the Easter weekend – March 21st – 24th.

There will be three sections – the Closed, Major and Minor. So come on all you chess enthusiasts – enter !

Entry forms are available here –

Welsh Championship Entry Form

Just download it, print it out, and send it to the tournament secretary, Glyn Sinnett.



24th February 2008 --- Defending Champion once again retains his crown.

Leighton Williams (Nidum) wins the Dyfed Open Congress at Fishguard with a perfect 5/5, to win the title for a third consecutive year. His five "scalps" included Jon Bourne(1928), Huw Oliver(2075), Sven Zeidler(2223), Richard Jones(2373) and GM Stewart Haslinger(2456). Howard Williams (Cardigan) was also unbeaten in the tournament finishing 2nd scoring 4.5/5. Sven Zeidler finished 3rd with 4/5.

The Major tournament was won by Roger Greatorex(Manchester) with 4.5/5, and the Minor tournament was won by John Arthur(Abergavenny) with 5/5.



10th February 2008 --- Nidum’s European hopes hanging by a thread.

Nidum all but ruled themselves out of contention in this year’s Welsh Premier League, as some atrocious clock handling by the defending champions left them grateful to achieve a draw against Wrexham. Nidum now have no realistic chance of retaining their WPL title, and will need several favours from others teams if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for Europe this year as runners-up.

Wrexham, who were once again out-graded on all boards, showed no signs of letting that affect them, and in a fluctuating match were 3-1 up before suddenly losing both the remaining boards. Wrexham play the joint leaders Cwmbran next where they will be looking to continue their current good run of form.



8th February --- Cwmbran still looking strong for Europe.

Cwmbran continue to put the pressure on Cardiff and Nidum in the Welsh Premier League with a victory over Abergavenny. They now have their European destiny firmly in their own hands, and a win and a draw from their final two matches will secure their invitation to Greece.

One of those two matches is against Wrexham, who claimed their first win of the season in round 4 at the expense of Cardigan. This was a fine win for Wrexham as they were out graded on every board, but came through comfortable winners in the end.

Recent WPL Results

Cwmbran 4-2 Abergavenny
Wrexham 4½-1½ Cardigan



28th January 2008 --- Big 3 continue to dominate the WPL.

Nidum, Cardiff, and Cwmbran all won convincingly in the latest round of Welsh Premier League matches, and it looks more and more likely that the outcome of those teams individual matches will decide the title. And it’s Cwmbran who have the edge there as they dispatched Nidum in the first round of games.

Recent WPL Results

Nidum 5½-½ Abergavenny
Cardiff 4½-1½ Cardigan
Cwmbran 5-1 Barry