Report

The inaugural Yorkshire Open Rapidplay Chess took place at The Shine Conference centre Leeds.
The weather was dry and sunny but the cold easterly wind bit.
We had 109 entrants...The venue had wifi and had lots of space although the main room was at full capacity.The event broke even .
A large HDMI fed screen allowed players to see the results and progressive scores.
Thanks to Gabby and Bernard from Shine who gave free tea coffee and water for the early folk.
They will probably need more sandwiches next time! The immediate area around the centre has loads of shops though.The parking went well.
2 Conway Street, gave a more precise point on the sat nav. Apologies......the centre has no road number.
The sectional results will be sent to the ecf and to TWIC by Nigel Hepworth..(email address on website).and others
The Chief arbiter Pete Purland had a good team.
Slight toothings with the computer occurred but these were ironed out by round two.
The tournament file will I hope be on website very  soon with all results. Thanks to Howard Cook for the bookstall.
We hope to see more players next year. When hopefully we can use more of Shines modern rooms.
Thanks to all the people who were involved ...
We send our regards to Stephen Forbes who's in hospital with cancer and a broken leg. We wish him well. Nigel Hepworth replaced Stephen and did very well.
Fortunately my own panic and anxiety attacks have mainly gone since last year, when we had to postpone.
The late Charlie Norris's estate gave a fantastic donation to the event.
My regards to all the congresses....whether ECF, 4NCL or independent. Chess is having a renaissance.
Leeds Junior club is junior club of the year ..Leeds Chess, White Rose, had 15 players in the event..
The top GM Gawain Jones was joint winner in the Open...but as I said a full results file will be put on the website...
Thanks again to all in this time of a cost of living crisis. We hope the wars in the world will end soon.
Chess has been promised funding from the government. I hope this is used fairly and across all the United Kingdom.
Happy Xmas and New Year ...
Brent Kitson.
Chief organiser - Yorkshire Open Rapidplay Chess (Y.O.R.C.)