Winter Butterfly  -  20b    12/5/03

Welsh Rapidplay 18th May 

Kevin has asked me to point out that only the Open section is actually closed.  All the sections that aren't Open are, therefore, Open.  Or, for those of us who aren't professors of logic,  the Open section is for Welsh qualified players only.   Anybody can play in the other sections provided they fulfil the grading requirements. 

On the subject of the rapidplay, when last Jon contact me I was the highest graded player in the Open.  This makes me favourite to become Welsh Champion.  If you wish to avoid that embarrassment the best way is to enter yourself.   

Gwent KO Cup 

I was rather saddened to receive the following email from Mark Adams: 

All, 

due to lack of interest, sadly, there will be no Gwent KO cups this year. However, after speaking with Jon Gilbert, we're trying to get some rapid play events together (don't forget that there will be a rapid play grading list out this year!). If anyone else has any suggestiosn for evening event, please drop me a line. 

Regards

Mark

 With apologies to Gwent members, because I know its not my place to comment, but the state of Gwent Chess is a cause for concern.  Numbers are down to less than a third of what they were at its peak, the number of clubs has reduced considerably. One of the major clubs, North Gwent, seems unable to field a team strong enough to hold a place in Division 1, another major club, Monmouth, is only kept going through imported players and now there are rumours of problems in the Newport club, which may considerably reduce its playing strength.  Yet Gwent has some of the best organisers in Wales.  A glance at the WCU Year book reveals that 4 of the 13 WCU post shown are filled Gwent officials and each of them is an active officer who is working hard to further the aims of Welsh Chess.  They punch considerably heavier than their weight at the national level, but clearly there are serious problems at the local level. 

In fairness, most of the players in Gwent are concerned about this problem and efforts are being made to redress it.  There are some bright spots, for example Cwmbran, which had more or less folded, has been reformed and is doing reasonably well, but overall its a grim picture.  Of course, the problem is not confined to Gwent, of the four county associations East Glamorgan is the only one that has not suffered a serious decline and even there the age profile of some of the clubs is not encouraging. 

Despite the above, we do seem to have turned a very nasty corner.  Three years ago it looked as if we were in terminal decline, but membership is beginning to creep back up.  There are some bright spots, for example in East Glamorgan clubs have been formed in the Rhondda and Merthyr, no go areas for chess for many years.  Cardiff has started an outreach team in Peterston-Super-Ely, Pontypridd has doubled its membership in eighteen months.  In addition there is now an successful Welsh Junior Grand Prix (see final years results below).  Many items could be added to this list, such as Leighton's wonderful performance at the Olympiad last year, but there are serious problems and we need to face up to them. 

It is likely that the forthcoming AGM will be dominated by selection and qualification matters.  Frankly, I see real problems with the suggested selection criteria.  If the poor turnout of the Olympiad Teams at the Welsh Championship is repeated in future years there are likely to be dark mutterings about people protecting their grades.  Maybe we should have suggested three from the Grande Prix and one based on weighted grades, rather than the other way around.  In any case, weighted grades tend to favour older players whose grades are drifting down over younger players whose grades are improving.  But unless we manage to make a real pig's breakfast of it, I think we should all live with whatever is decided for a couple of years.  Then, with a bit of luck, we can turn our attention to the development of the game inside Wales, without which questions of Olympic teams and international selection would become purely academic. 

Junior Grand Prix 

This competition finished in a double point event at Bishop Headley School, Merthyr, yesterday.  Many thanks to Kevin Staveley for providing me with the following final tables. 

Under 18

Under 14

Under 12

Under 10

Under 8