Five complete games show how Wales turned a 100th seed into a 73rd-place finish, including two notable late upsets.
Wales Open entered Samarkand seeded 100 and finished 73rd with 12 match points and 26½ board points. Their match record was 6 wins, 0 draws and 5 losses. Official team record.
Wales started the Open section as the 100th seed and finished 73rd on 12 match points. Six match wins were enough to move them 27 places above seed even though every match was decisive: there were no 2-2 team draws. The selected games show the range of the campaign, from high-rated draws in the first week to Iwan Cave's win in the narrow defeat to New Zealand and Jonathan Blackburn's final-round upset against Chile.
Five games from the campaign
These are editorial selections for what they show about the team campaign, not a computer ranking of the five objectively best games. Each squad member is represented once. The full move score, controls and White-perspective engine estimates remain available in every native replay.
Ifan Rathbone-Jones–Zi Han Goh, Round 2: a draw against a 230-point higher-rated opponent
Ifan Rathbone-Jones needed an escape and got one when Zi Han Goh played 34...Ke7. The advantage vanished, and the draw was there from that point. g6 was the better way to keep the pressure on. The verified replay opens near the selected passage: 32...Nb5 33.Nxb5 33...Bxb5 34.Re1 34...Ke7 35.Ra7 35...Kd6 36.Rd1+ 36...Ke7 37.Re1. Official Round 2 boards.
Jose Camacho Collados–Georg Meier, Round 4: holding Georg Meier after the advantage disappeared
This was the chance that got away for Georg Meier. After 58...Rd2, a clearly better position was back to roughly level. Kf7 was the better way to keep the pressure on. The verified replay opens near the selected passage: 56...Rdc3 57.Ra7 57...Rd3 58.Ra5 58...Rd2 59.Rxe3 59...Rxe3+ 60.Kxe3 60...Rh2 61.Kf4. Official Round 4 boards.
David Sun–Alex Bullen, Round 7: the win that was missed in a long draw
Both players missed chances in a long draw. Alex Bullen's 31...Qa7 gave David Sun an opening, 32.bxa6 returned it, and 54.Qf4 allowed a forced finish. Bullen missed that final win with 54...Re4, and the game was drawn. The verified replay opens near the selected passage: 29...Qc5 30.axb5 30...Qxe3 31.Qd2 31...Qa7 32.bxa6 32...Bxa6 33.Bxa6 33...Qxa6+ 34.Kg1. Official Round 7 boards.
Iwan Cave–Daqi Mao, Round 8: a 170-point upset in the New Zealand match
Iwan Cave built steadily against Daqi Mao’s French Tarrasch. Black’s 18...Bxh3 gave White the first clear opportunity, and 22...g6 made the defensive task worse. Cave kept control through the ensuing exchanges and won cleanly, although Wales lost the match. The verified replay opens near the selected passage: 16...Qc8 17.Qc2 17...Re8 18.Rad1 18...Bxh3 19.gxh3 19...Qxh3 20.Bf5 20...Nxd4 21.Nxd4. Official Round 8 boards.
Jonathan Blackburn–Mauricio Emmanuel Marrujo Pardo, Round 11: a 183-point final-round upset
Blackburn beat Mauricio Emmanuel Marrujo Pardo across a 183 point rating gap. His 19.Nxh7 and 21.Bxh6 pulled the black king into the attack, followed by 26.Rxg7+ and 27.Qxg5. It still took work from there: Blackburn eventually won on move 60. A result worth recognising despite the team defeat. The verified replay opens near the selected passage: 17.Nfg5 17...Nh6 18.Bb5 18...Bd7 19.Nxh7 19...Kxh7 20.Bg5 20...Qc8 21.Bxh6 21...Kxh6. Official Round 11 boards.
Individual contributions
| Player | Rating | Games | Score | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CM Ifan Rathbone-Jones | 2117 | 9 | 6½ | 72.2% |
| Iwan Cave | 2107 | 9 | 6 | 66.7% |
| IM Jose Camacho Collados | 2358 | 9 | 4½ | 50.0% |
| CM Alex Bullen | 2096 | 8 | 4½ | 56.2% |
| FM Jonathan Blackburn | 2239 | 9 | 5 | 55.6% |
Assessment (editorial judgement): A 27-place rise from seed is the clearest team-level result. It was supported by Ifan Rathbone-Jones scoring 6½/9 and Iwan Cave scoring 6/9, while the final rounds produced evidence that Wales could still take individual points from stronger opposition even when the match result went against them.
Match by match
| Round | Opponent | Score | Match points after round |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 4-0 | 2 |
| 2 | Singapore | 1-3 | 2 |
| 3 | Qatar | 3-1 | 4 |
| 4 | Uruguay | 1-3 | 4 |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia | 1½-2½ | 4 |
| 6 | Guyana | 3-1 | 6 |
| 7 | Macau, China | 3½-½ | 8 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 1½-2½ | 8 |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 3½-½ | 10 |
| 10 | Costa Rica | 3-1 | 12 |
| 11 | Chile | 1½-2½ | 12 |
Round numbers open the final official board records. Final Open standings.
Sources and game records
- Chess-Results: Wales Open composition, player totals and eleven match scores.
- Chess-Results: final Open standings.
- Complete Wales Open Lichess Study. The five selected games were legally replayed into native boards and independently checked against the stored final round records. Every position carries a genuine Stockfish 16 estimate at 50,000 nodes per position, White POV.