Pembroke Castle provided a spectacular setting for the Pembrokeshire Junior Rapidplay Championship on Saturday 15 August, as 30 young players came together for a fantastic day of competitive chess.

The standard of play throughout the championship was incredibly high. Across every age group there was some seriously impressive chess, with players concentrating hard, fighting for every point and, most importantly, enjoying the game.

2026 Pembrokeshire Junior Champions

Three new Pembrokeshire junior champions were crowned during the day:

• Under 16 Champion – Vismith Prabhu
• Under 12 Champion – Cynan Jones
• Under 10 Champion – Jai Hrithvik Adithya Are

A huge congratulations goes to all three players on their performances.

Vismith Prabhu also produced the outstanding overall result of the championship, scoring 6½ points to finish first across the entire field and become the 2026 Pembrokeshire Junior Rapidplay Champion.

He was followed in the overall standings by Jai Hrithvik Adithya Are, who finished second with 6 points, while Dexter Wildsmith took third place with 5 points.

Age Group Results

There was plenty of strong chess throughout each section, with the podium places finishing as follows.

Under 16

1. Vismith Prabhu – Champion
2. Dexter Wildsmith
3. Jacob Emery

Under 12

1. Cynan Jones – Champion
2. Henry Burton
3. Constantine Popov

Under 10

1. Jai Hrithvik Adithya Are – Champion
2. Joseph Lake
3. Daarshik Haldar

Junior Chess in Pembrokeshire

It was brilliant to see so many young players competing and showing so much enthusiasm about chess. A huge congratulations to all who played and survived 7 games and were still smiling at the end. This is no mean feat considering the youngest competitor was was just 7 years old!

Holding the championship at Pembroke Castle made the occasion particularly special and provided a memorable setting for one of the highlights of the Pembrokeshire junior chess calendar.

Thank You

A huge thank you goes to everyone who helped make the championship possible, including our arbiter Bill Hewitt and of course Kevin & Janie who gave everything to make the day as memorable as possible.

We are also very grateful to our sponsor for providing equipment used during the championship and helping us give the players the best possible tournament experience. Thank you to AA Chess, Pembroke Castle and SenseRobot for the equipment and space to make the event happen.

The next events on the list are the Pembrokeshire Chess Knight Moves and Haverfordwest Rapidplay 2026. See you there!

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