This year’s Congress was the first since 2019 with the COVID blight having prevented it taking place since then. The event was well attended and everyone seemed pleased to be taking part in an over the board weekend chess again. The 63 entries exceeded the target number the Congress was costed at meaning the congress was financially self-sufficient.

The Open section went as gradings suggested being won by the top seed Alex Golding, the brother of James Golding who plays for Noah’s Yard and who also did well, scoring 3 points. Adam Musson came joint second with the very good score of 4 out of 5 and might well have done better if he hadn’t lost to Yogesh, a player from Singapore graded only 1375. Apparently, grades are a lot lower in Singapore!

Name Club Grade Fide Number Score Prize Alex Golding Guildford 2312 427241 4.5 1st Adam Musson Morriston 2111 424455 4 2nd = Sam Jukes Cardiff 2028 37413 4 2nd = Yogesh Vivek Shelgaonkar Cardiff University 1375 5825806 3 GP

The Major tournament was a very tight affair at the top with no one scoring more than 4 points. Sadly, from our local perspective the prizes were dominated by English based players. However, Neil Stuart played strongly throughout the tournament, ending on 3 points, just losing out in the last round to one of the joint winners.

Name Club Grade Score Prize William Phillips Hatch End 1794 4 1st = Ganesh Balaji Kadalarasan Uxbridge 1593 4 1st = David Williams Downend+Fishponds 1609 3.5 3rd = Brendan O’Gorman DHSS 1734 3.5 3rd =

The Minor results were the complete opposite of the major with all prizes being won by Welsh base players amongst whom the pride of place must go to Vismith Prabhu of White Knights who scored a dominant 4 points in a very tight field. Other local prize winners were Lysa Brooks of Swansea University who shared a very creditable 2nd place and Andrew Hugh Powell of Castell Nedd who also did well to share the Grading Prize.

Name Club Grade Score Prize Vismith Prabhu White Knights 1170 4 1st Ben Bickford 0 3.5 2nd = Lysa Brooks Swansea University 0 3.5 2nd = Alex Kennedy North Cardiff 1427 3.5 2nd = Curtis Lawson Reid Caerphilly 1126 3 GP Andrew Huw Powell Castell Nedd 1023 3 GP Stephen Maguire Barry 952 3 GP

Thank you very much to all who took part and made this a successful and fun Congress.

Thanks to Brendan O’Gorman for providing the photos which can be viewed here.

14/11/2022