All Welcome!
Thursday evenings at the BMI
All Welcome!
Thursday evenings at the BMI
The 2026 Koelle Tournament begins this week - Swiss format, 7 rounds, two divisions and plenty of prizes. Entry for members is free, as always! Try to put your games into the database regularly - it's great sharing them with others in the club to help everybody improve.
What a fantastic day of chess we had at our Winter Cup on Tuesday! We had junior players of different ages and playing levels competing across eight rounds, with plenty of hard‑fought games, new challenges and, most importantly, lots of chess being played.
🏆 Winter Cup Results
1st – Terrance Wang
2nd – Anirudh Weerakkody
3rd – Johan Stanley
Congratulations to all three! Terrance takes home the Winter Cup 1st Place trophy and a chess clock, while 2nd and 3rd place received chess sets and medals. We also awarded a Best Girl prize, with congratulations to Minsadi Wansapura, who received a chess clock.
Intermediate Group
1st – Jamie Galante
2nd – Aaron Du
3rd – Luca Golante
The Intermediate players were competing for chess clocks and chess boards as prizes, giving everyone another goal to work towards throughout the tournament. A big congratulations to all of our prize winners — and to everyone who took part. An eight‑round tournament is a big day of chess, and it was great to see the players challenging themselves, learning from their games and enjoying the day together.
Arthur Koelle came in for some skittles chess and was undefeated on 7 for 7. Junior Ryan Lambrou was not held back by his 13th seeding and came second with 6 points followed Captain Cook in third on 5 points.
Fisher A: CM Declan Smith pulls off a decisive win against tournament leader Scott Stewart, tying things up at the top and leaving Scott and Declan sharing first place.
Terrance takes the tournament win in the Reservers with an impressive 6/7, remaining undefeated throughout. An iron-clad performance and a well-deserved victory.
Vipin Jyani dominates the field, finishing on an impressive 6/7 to claim a victory in the Swiss.Report continues here...
For info re coaching, junior tournaments, study resources etc., visit the Ballarat Junior Chess Club pages.
There are some chess sets for use at the following cafes... just ask!
Fergusson Plarre next to Woolies, Beechworth Bakery near the Court House
Chess is also played at Woowookarung lookout, but you'll need to take your own set!
To all members and chess players
The Humffray Room at the BMI is now in use for all club activities. Enter the foyer, walk up the stairs or take the lift to the third level. Remember to turn your phone to silent!
From April 1991 until March 1993, Bas wrote a fortnightly chess column for the Ballarat Courier. Read them here
ChessChat is a platform where all matters Chess Australia are discussed.
New to Chess?A great site for learning the basics from a cool video, improving your chess with puzzles, and playing against QWERTY the chess computer.
Chess Victoria is the not‑for‑profit peak body for chess in the state of Victoria. Founded in 1938 (incorporated in 1983, renamed in 2000), it is one of seven state associations under the Australian Chess Federation. It fosters, governs, and organises chess through affiliations with local clubs.
