The prize fund for the competition has been announced as £200. It has been decided that this will be allocated as follows:

1st £50 ; 2nd £30 ; Under 1800 £30 ; Under 1600 £30 ; Under 1400 £30 ; Under 1200 £30. Only one prize per player but they may need to be shared if there is more than one player eligble.

The story so far: Rd1 saw a major surprise when Mckenzie Archibald beat Adam May, the other games going to the higher graded players. In Rd2 the games were longer & much closer with the lower graded players scoring some notable successes. Mckenzie continued his good form with a draw against Mark Thomas, but for a time he was a clear piece up. Eventually he held a rook and pawn ending 2 pawns down, drawing in 76 moves. The longest game was Chris Daniel v Moss McCarthy which went into a rook & pawn ending with both players down to under a minute & playing on increments. The game eventually went to a complicated king & pawn ending, Moss eventually winning in 92 moves.

Round 2 was played at the White Knights Chess Club on Wednesday 10th May 2023 and the results are gas follows:

(Duncan Williams, Jason Garcia, and Andrew Golley all claimed 1/2 point byes in this round)

Bd White Grade Result Black Grade 1 Andrew Smith 1688 0 - 1 Adam Musson 2140 2 Chris Daniel 1671 0 - 1 Moss McCarthy 2015 3 Andrew Gibbons 1992 1 - 0 Dale Westcott 1667 4 Mckenzie Archibald 1208 0.5 - 0.5 Mark Thomas 1916 5 John Giannini 948 0 - 1 Peter Bevan 1870 6 Les Philpin 1584 0 - 1 def Louis Ba Thein 1308 7 Adam May 1908 1 - 0 Aaran Davies 1100 8 Paul Bevan 1201 0 - 1 Neil Stuart 1588 9 Malcolm Probert 1518 0.5 - 0.5 David Battell 1050 10 Leighton Anthony 1084 0 - 1 Matthew Billington 1487 11 Vismith Prabhu 1258 0 - 1 James Evans 1000 Rankings after Round 2

NB Les Philpin has withdrawn from the competition so there are now 24 competitors.

Player Grade Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Total 1 Adam Musson 2140 1 1 2 2 Moss McCarthy 2015 1 1 2 3 Andrew Gibbons 1992 1 1 2 4 Peter Bevan 1870 1 1 2 5 Jason Garcia 2048 1 0.5 1.5 6 Mark Thomas 1916 1 0.5 1.5 7 Duncan Williams 1810 1 0.5 1.5 8 Louis Ba Thein 1308 0.5 1 1.5 9 Mckenzie Archibald 1208 1 0.5 1.5 10 Adam May 1908 0 1 1 11 Andrew Smith 1688 1 0 1 12 Chris Daniel 1671 1 0 1 13 Dale Westcott 1667 1 0 1 14 Neil Stuart 1588 0 1 1 15 Matthew Billington 1487 0 1 1 16 James Evans 1000 0 1 1 17 John Giannini 948 1 0 1 18 Andrew Golley 1650 0 0.5 0.5 19 Malcolm Probert 1518 0 0.5 0.5 20 David Battell 1050 0 0.5 0.5 21 Vismith Prabhu 1258 0 0 0 22 Paul Bevan 1201 0 0 0 23 Aaron Davies 1100 0 0 0 24 Leighton Anthony 1084 0 0 0 The draw for round 3 which is being held on Tuesday 16th may at Morriston Chess Club is as follows:

Bd White Grade Black Grade 1 Adam Musson 2140 Andrew Gibbons 1992 2 Moss McCarthy 2015 Peter Bevan 1870 3 Jason Garcia 2048 Duncan Williams 1810 4 Mark Thomas 1916 Louis Ba Thein 1308 5 Dale Westcott 1667 Mckenzie Archibald 1208 6 Neil Stuart 1588 Adam May 1908 7 Matthew Billington 1487 Andrew Smith 1688 8 John Giannini 948 Chris Daniel 1671 9 Andrew Golley 1650 David Battell 1050 10 Vismith Prabhu 1258 Malcolm Probert 1518 11 Leighton Anthony 1084 Paul Bevan 1201 Aaron Davies and James Evans are claiming 1/2 point byes in this round.

15/05/2023