This 5 round rapid event took place at Upper Killay Recreational Hall, Swansea on Saturday 9th March 2019. 34 players contested the tournament which was impeccably controlled by Dai James.

The event has been contested since 1976 as an internal WWCL event but the decision was taken to make it an Open event in 2018 to attract more entries than the 6 that played in 2017. The entry was 36 this year but 2 failed to show on the day and 34 played. The event is open to non WWCL members and has introduced a number of players to tournament chess who only play online. This year it brought a dozen players from Gwent & East Glam to the Gower coast on a 6 Nations rugby weekend. The event again clashed with a WCU Junior event in Merthyr so it was good to see 5 juniors playing.

The magnificent AO Jones trophy goes to the highest placed West Wales Chess league player. The entry fee is low, £5, but the number of entries allowed us to fund grading and junior prizes.

The early rounds saw a number of shocks with the higher rated players not having it all their own way. Ken Wardle (1483) gave top seed Friedemann Brock (2200, currently working at Swansea University) a very good game in Rd1 only going down in a time scramble which could have gone either way. Early losses to much lower graded players for Alan Young, Thomas Van Veelen, Sam Jukes, Peter Bevan and Kimberley Chong were all unexpected. In Rd 4 Ian Jones drew with Friedemann Brock in a rather wild sicilian while Jon Gilbert came through against Bill Hewitt. Ben Mora, who had beaten Alan Young in Rd2, beat Chris Price. This left the top last round pairings –

1. Friedemann Brock (3.5) v Ben Mora (3.5)
2. Ian Jones (3.5) v Jon Gilbert (3.5) Ian Jones caught Jon Gilbert in the late opening, winning material and finished on 4.5/5. Friedemann Brock eventually overcame Ben Mora to join Ian on 4.5/5.

Prize Winners 1st = Ian Jones & Friedemann Brock, 4.5/5 (£50 each) Ian Jones receives the AO Jones trophy - for the 12th time! 3rd = Bill Hewitt & Alan Young, 4/5 (£12.50 each)

Grading Prizes U-1800, Ben Mora & Javier Marin Martin, 3.5/5 (£12.50 each) U-1500, Daniel Chung (£25), 3/5 U-1200, Rio Northey (£25), 2.5/5 Junior Prizes 1st Joel Chung, 2/5 (£15) 2nd = Harri Gilbert & Alex Lawrence, 1.5/5 (£5 each) In the end, all of the juniors won a prize!

My thanks to WWCL Exec Committee who funded the venue and gave £50 towards the first prize, to Dai James for stepping in as controller and to Janet & June Evans for supplying the equipment and arranging tea / coffee & biscuits which were free to all players. Thanks as well to all the players for making it such an enjoyable day.

18/03/2019