Welsh Chess Union

October 21st

A Girls training day was held in The Cathedral School, Llandaff organised by the Womens Director Olivia Smith.

September 9th

Welsh Women Individual Results 

Report from Ed Wang:

CLOSING COMMENTS

Overall, the Welsh Women’s team finished on 10 points with 4 wins and 2 draws and were positioned 82^nd, 4 places higher than our initial seeding. Everyone was really pleased with this, though we were disappointed to be pipped in the last few rounds by the Irish! All the team played highly competitive chess and gave some of the stronger sides they played real scares. Congratulations must go to Lynda for the award of her WCM title. My general impression was a fantastic team spirit within the Women’s team, with every player supporting each other and keen to play whenever it was required of them. There was also a lot of fun as well as hard work. From my own point of view, I felt Alyssa gained a huge amount of experience on many levels, from chess related things like learning how to prepare for games at this level and a deeper understanding of chess itself, to more social aspects of letting one’s hair down in the evenings! Huge thanks to all the women in the team for being so welcoming and supportive towards Alyssa in her first Olympiad. Finally, I would also like to highlight in words Tom’s massive contribution as coach and team captain. Apart from his undoubted expertise in preparing the team for high-level chess, he has been good-humoured throughout and has found the most original ways of keeping up morale and finding carrots to inspire more effort and concentration! Those will be kept a secret unless Tom wants to reveal them himself… J. On that note, I’ll sign off from a very enjoyable fortnight in Istanbul. 

Round 11: All Pairings   Women

Women: 

Report from Ed Wang:

DAY 13

Our final round opponents were Syria, a team that had beaten us 2 years earlier at the same stage in Russia. Tom brought Alyssa back into the team for Sandra to face them. It was interesting that the Syrian team had played their board 1 and 5 throughout, just resting one of their middle boards, and the final round proved no exception – perhaps tactics are played even beyond the actual chess games! Alyssa played against the Queen’s Bishop Opening with the London System and although she faced an opponent 400 grading points higher than hers, she came out of the opening a bishop to 2 pawns up. However, Alyssa chose further material rather than blocking her opponent’s castling options, which resulted in a tough battle against an active knight and queen that eventually proved too much. Lynda opted for a Closed Sicilian against a Korchnoi Defense, then launching a powerful kingside attack that won 2 pawns. She eventually generated connected passed f and g pawns that induced a resignation. Liv played the French Variation of the Sicilian. Her opponent managed to get some momentum on the queenside winning a pawn and generating a passed c pawn. However, Liv played a precise rook and pawn endgame and the match was drawn. Suzy opted for the Horwitz Defense, pushing her f-c pawns onto the 4^th rank and attacking down the queenside. However, while Suzy broke through on the a file, her opponent claimed the b file and with 2 rooks and a minor piece each, a draw was also agreed. The result was a step forward from last time, but just short of the desired win!

WALES 2 – SYRIA 2

Olivia - Bd 1	Suzy - Bd 2	(from the Official site)

August 28th

Well done to Neya Govindaraj  who won the Best Girl prize and came overall 2nd with 5/6 (no losses) in the Under 9 section of the Silver Plate North 2012 event run by UK Chess Academy.