The 30th Dorset Rapidplay Championship was held on Sunday 26th April in the spacious Furzebrook Village Hall, Wareham, a lovely setting in the heart of Purbecks, Dorset.
There were the traditional winning ingredients with good prizes and the normal array of free extras.
To celebrate our 30th, we offered almost £300 in extra cash prizes compared to previous years, and we had an excellent turnout of 51 entrants, which was a fantastic 50% higher than last year!
There were the normal free refreshments and free lunch on offer together with a vast array of cash prizes. This year, there were 10 prizes of £50 or more including a £200 1st prize! These were all designed to offer a friendly welcoming atmosphere and excellent value for money for all players.
Playing venue
The Furzebrook Village Hall proved once again to be an ideal location with a large free car park, and, with 2 spacious rooms inside, there was plenty of room to walk around and to relax between rounds. Similar to last year, as requested, there was fantastic weather and and being in the countryside, there was also plenty of opportunity to roam around outside. Thankfully, none of the players were distracted by this glorious backdrop and all returned to play chess in time for the next round. Having said this, one player did fall asleep in his car and missed the start of the 4th round after lunch, clearly recovering from the lunch!
An early start!
In preparation for the long day ahead, Steve Peirson, Nick Stout and myself arrived early just before 8am to set up the tables, chairs & chess sets in the main playing hall, plus laying out everything needed in the kitchen, including ensuring that all the slow cookers were turned on!
Free refreshments all day including bacon rolls on arrival!
We had a delicious breakfast offering of free bacon rolls plus teas, coffees & biscuits for everyone on arrival. The early refreshments were much in demand and appreciated by the competitors.
We also had a chocolate cake in the afternoon in case people were still hungry after their free lunch!
The fantastic support from the kitchen helpers, Nikki Forster & Lindsey Peirson, meant everyone was well fed and watered during the day and especially between rounds. Even dirty plates, cups and cutlery were miraculously cleaned and available for use at all times.
Bookstall
To help with the finances we once again had a bookstall and this proved very popular and great value at £1 to £5 per item. These books were donated by a number of chess players but most notably from John Torrance who provided the lion’s share.
Free lunch
Some players openly admit this is the main reason why they regularly attend the Rapidplay. 7 hot pots, a South African vegetarian dish plus a choice of 5 desserts were on offer and pretty much all of it went!
Cash prizes
As already mentioned, the prize fund was increased by almost £300 to a total of £760 consisting of £335 for the top 3 prizes, 5 rating prizes of £50 each plus a shared Veteran’s prize of £60, a Junior prize of £50, a Controller’s Discretionary prize of £25, an exciting Team prize of £40, and not least, the popular booby prize!
Almost a third of the entrants won prizes.
Manual pairings
As is traditional, we used manual pairings and a wallchart as we find this adds to the friendly ambience and extra interest in the event as players crowded around the pairing boards at the start of each round. A whistle was used to round up all players, including those hiding in the car park, to ensure each round started promptly!
Wallchart
Prizewinners
1st – Finn Schell – 5½ points (£200). Finn is also the Dorset Rapidplay Champion.
2nd – Kevin Goater, Roland Bezuidenhout & Saahil Bansal – 5 points (£45 each).
Under 2000 – James Forster – 4½ points (£50)
Under 1850 – Lucas Kwok – 4 points (£50)
Under 1700 – Samuel Gorsuch – 4½ points (£50)
Under 1600 – Karla Venter – 4 points (£50)
Under 1400 – Advik Dongre – 3 points (£50)
Best Veteran – Keith Gregory, Allan Pleasants & Ian Clark – 4 points (£20 each)
Veterans Trophy – Allan Pleasants & Ian Clark
Junior – Anuhas Gamage & Hugo Melling – 4 points (£25 each)
Team Prize – The Blundergraduates (Saahil Bansal, Daniel Goodlad, Lucas Kwok & Oliver Williamson)
14½ points (£40) – ½ point ahead of 2 teams, Weymouth and Southbourne Juniors which finished on 14 points.
Controller’s Discretionary Prize – Arjun Sai Krishna Vurukonda – 3 points (£25)
The Team of Organisers
I would like to thank:
– Steve Peirson, Joint Organiser / Controller, who worked meticulously hard throughout the whole day including the setting up of the tables, dealing with any queries, updating the wallcharts and organising the pairings.
– Lindsey Peirson, who provided the scrumptious 5 puddings.
– Nikki Forster, who provided the popular tasty South African babotie.
Both Lindsey & Nikki also worked tremendously hard in the kitchen all day ensuring all competitors were well fed and watered.
– Nick Stout, who came along first thing in the morning to help set up the tables & chess sets and then also stayed at the end to put everything away!
Finally, I would like to thank Peter Anderson who quietly yet efficiently behind the scenes ensured the finances were kept in check and that the webpages were being updated on the Dorset Chess Website.
We hope to hold the Rapidplay Championship again next year and we also hope to see you then!
Martin Simons – April 2026.
