2023 Arthur Teters Memorial
2023 Champion: Paul Dao
Rounds 4-7
In Round 4, Paul Dao took down fellows leader Michael Leckie, while the other leader Peter Stickland fought to a draw against determined veteran Patrick Cook. High flying junior Declan Mahar couldn’t cope with the experienced Bas van Riel, while Jamie Brotheridge fell to Jordan Furlong. The big upset of the round was Scott Stewart’s defeat by Reserves Champion Justin Goodison, with Kanishk Mahasuar continuing his good run with a draw against Kevin Perrin.
The action continued in Round 5 with Jordan Furlong another victim of rampaging Paul Dao, Paul Marko getting the better of resident Surrealist Harrison Harrison, and Patrick Cook profited from an oversight by Justin Goodison. Kanishk Mahasuar continued his good form with a draw against tough Tom Oppenheim and Anna Yates made a bid for “drawmeister” title with a 5th straight draw against confident junior Declan Mahar! In Round 6, Paul Dao continued his dominance of the field with a convincing win over Patrick Cook, Harrison Harrison defeated Jamie Brotheridge, Declan Mahar bounced back with a win over fellow junior Kanishk Mahasuar, Lucas Ware ended Anna Yates’ drawing streak, and Justin Goodison held Jordan Furlong to a draw. Paul Dao now has 6/6 and a 1.5 point lead and thus wins the 2023 Teters Memorial with a round to spare! With Paul Dao already having won the title, all that was left was to see if he could make it a picket fence score, and he duly did with a fine victory over Bas van Riel. Patrick Cook scored a tough win against Paul Marko, Michael Leckie fell to Harrison Harrison, Justin Goodison beat Jasan Barnett, and Jamie Brotheridge overcame Tom Oppenheim. Jordan Furlong showed his class with a win over newcomer Lucas Ware, Ricky Wang lost to Anna Yates after she declined a draw offer!, and Nigel Block collapsed to defeat from a crushing position to allow Declan Mahar to grab the Reserves title. So, a great victory for Paul Dao, and a fine result for fast improving Declan Mahar means two juniors win the Teters Memorial medals for 2023.
Rounds 1-3
This years Arthur Teters Memorial has a very encouraging starting list of 36 players, headed by Scott Stewart, with Jordan Furlong and Paul Dao as 2nd and 3rd seeds. The round 1 results went as expected, except for Vipin Jyani who crashed to defeat against our 'C' grade Champion, young Declan Mahar. The round 2 results were even more dramatic, with Peter Stickland taking down Jordan Furlong, Tom Oppenheim snatching a draw from Bas van Riel, Jasan Barnett scared Patrick Cook into offering a draw, which he accepted, and Anna Yates resisting Rob Loveband for another draw. The mayhem continued in round 3 with Bas van Riel falling to excellent play by Jasan Barnett, Declan Mahar finding a great final move to defeat Jamie Brotheridge, and Vipin Jyani being unable to overcome junior Kanishk Mahasuar for another upset draw. After 3 rounds, Paul Dao, Michael Leckie, and Peter Stickland lead with 3/3, with Patrick Cook and Jasan Barnett lurking just behind on 2.5/3.
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For the past decade or so, the period between the annual Club Championships, for the Andy Miitel shield and John Baynham shield, has been filled with non-descript rapid play tournaments. At the suggestion of some club members, a new annual 7 round Swiss, games to be rated, was devised. All that remained was to give it a name. After a great deal of discussion, it was finally agreed to honour a past Ballarat player who has faded, almost to obscurity, in our collective memories.
Arthur Teters was part of the great wave of post-war immigration to Australia of Baltic chess players. He arrived in Australia in 1950 and won the Australian Open in Melbourne in 1953, before settling in Ballarat in 1954.
It can be established that he won the Ballarat Club championship in 1954 and 1957, and possibly several other years as well. He was elected President of the Club shortly after arriving here and played successfully for the Club in numerous inter-city matches. His other OTB achievements included winning the Country Victorian championship in the 1950’s, and then the Victorian State championship in 1965, no doubt after he had returned to live in Melbourne.
Upon his arrival in Ballarat, he had told the “Courier” that a highlight of his youth was holding the World Champion to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition in Riga. The Champion could only have been Mikhail Botvinnik, a notable achievement indeed.
He was also a strong and active CC player, winning the Victorian Correspondence Chess championship in the 1950’s and representing Australia in a CC Olympiad.
By a curious coincidence, the current President of the Club, Patrick Cook, played against Mr. Teters a number of times in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, without ever knowing of his connection to Ballarat chess. So, it is important that he not be forgotten and this new tournament is an appropriate salute to a past Ballarat champion.