2009 News
29-12-09 |
Arthur Koelle Invitation |
| Stayed tuned for a report on Ballarat's Prodigal Son of Chess and red wine enthusiast, Arthur Koelle, who visited the club for a round of lightning chess on Tuesday. | |
23-12-09 |
End of Year Get Together |
| Those members and their families and friends still in Ballarat for Xmas are invited to a friendly gathering at John Absons house. What: Ballarat Chess Club End of Year Get Together Date: Wednesday, 23 December, starting around 7pm Venue: John Abson’s Residence Tilbury St. Delacombe (Google Map) What to bring:BYO food, drinks, family and friends! BBQ facilities available |
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16-12-09 |
Last Chance Lightning goes to... |
| Rob Loveband was in form with an 8 out of 8 win in the Last Chance Lightning on Wednesday. Patrick was only a point behind with many players right on his tail, too! Two new juniors, Ryan and Jackson, joined in the fun for their first tourney ever, and brought plenty of enthusiasm to the night. | |
16-12-09 |
Last Chance Lightning! |
| Wednesday evening is our last chess tournament for the year, being a 7 or 8 round, 5-minute swiss lightning tourney. They're fast, they're fun, and they aren't very fair, but anyone can be a winner! See you there!. | |
12th + 13th Dec |
Eureka wins for Bas van Riel and Nigel Barrow! |
| The second Eureka Tournament was enjoyed by 17 players over two days. With several late entries and some missed rounds due to other commitments, there was some unpredictability over pairing, making for some challenging games for all contestants. Bas and Nigel, the two top rated players, faced off for a draw in Round Three. After drawing one other game each, they topped the ladder with 5 points a piece. More info!... | |
12th + 13th Dec |
Eureka Tournament coming up! |
| The annual weekend Eureka Tournament is approaching rapidly. With prizes for first, second, third, and door prizes, nearly everyone comes away a winner! Sovereign Hill is providing a variety of Christmas Hampers, as follows: Digger’s Delight Hamper (First prize) RRP $90.00 Gold Rush Hamper (Second Prize) RRP $50.00 Sweet Treats Hamper (door prize/possible third prize) RRP $25.00 It's a great, fun event of rated chess, open to all previous and current members of the Ballarat Chess Club. This event began in 2008, organised by Chris Segrave and also goes by the moniker 'The Kris Swiss'. It was won by Nigel Barrow last year who is coming back to defend his title. It will be held at the Eastwood Leisure Centre in the the old club rooms. Mark it in your diary now! More info!... |
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09-12-09 |
Kevin Perrin wins the John Holmes Tournament |
| Congratulations to the outright winner of the John Holmes Memorial Tournament for 2009, Kevin Perrin! Last round results still not in but word has it that Kevin came away with 6 points out of 7. more... | |
02-12-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial Round 6 |
| The two leaders continued with their good form in this round. Peter Miitel disposed of Jamie Brotheridge, while Kevin Perrin prevailed in a tough game against Rod Jacobs. Chris Segrave claimed the forfeit against James Eldridge, while all the other games went more or less according to expectations. Round 7 pairing is up. more... | |
02-12-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial Round 5 |
| The four leaders after Round 4 became 2 leaders after this round. Peter Miitel worked hard to dispose of Chris Segrave, while Kevin Perrin scored an excellent win against his old rival Patrick Cook. The other leader Rod Jacobs fell to James Eldridge, while John Abson was most fortunate to swindle young Angus Blenkiron. Round 6 pairing is up. more... | |
25-11-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial Round 4 |
| The top boards all drew their games, leaving a three-way tie between Peter Miitel, Chris Segrave, and club returnee Rod Jacobs, each with 3/5. Highlight of the night was a first win for the youngest entrant, Angus Blenkiron, against Tristan McGrath. Two players failed to show and since they were paired against each other, had the rare “distinction” of scoring a soccer result of 0-0! Round 5 pairing is up. more... | |
18-11-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial Round 3 |
| Highlight of the night was the tough and lengthy struggle between Rod Jacobs and Joel Beggs. Black played brilliantly to have White on the ropes but Rod’s defence was ice cool and Black went astray in time pressure and lost. The other top boards, Kevin Perrin versus Peter Miitel and Patrick Cook versus Jamie Brotheridge were fighting draws, while other games were unsurprising. The John Holmes Memorial tournament will continue with Round 4 this Wednesday. Round 4 pairing is up. more... |
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18-11-09 |
David Cordover visit (date changed from 25th to 18th) |
| David Cordover will be visiting our chess club on Wed. 18th Nov. from 7:00pm, to address the members re: Chess Victoria and his own business Chess Kids. | |
25-11-09 |
David Cordover visit |
| David Cordover will be visiting our chess club on Wed. 25th Nov. from 7:00pm, to address the members re: Chess Victoria and his own business Chess Kids. | |
18-11-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial Round 3 |
| Highlight of the night was the tough and lengthy struggle between Rod Jacobs and Joel Beggs. Black played brilliantly to have White on the ropes but Rod’s defence was ice cool and Black went astray in time pressure and lost. The other top boards, Kevin Perrin versus Peter Miitel and Patrick Cook versus Jamie Brotheridge were fighting draws, while other games were unsurprising. The John Holmes Memorial tournament will continue with Round 4 this Wednesday. Round 4 pairing is up. more... |
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11-11-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial |
| The John Holmes Memorial tournament will continue with Round 3 this Wednesday. 15 players entered this prestigious annual 7 round Swiss, an excellent turnout in memory of a young player tragically killed in a car accident near the end of 1970. Top seed is Patrick Cook. The tournament also sees the return to competition chess of Rod Jacobs, an important member of the club in the 1980’s. more... |
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28-10-09 |
The John Holmes Memorial to begin |
The John Holmes Memorial tournament will begin this Wednesday. Time controls are 90 minutes for 40 moves with an extra 30 minutes per 20 moves thereafter. Please come and register your interest in participating in the tournament, or come for some friendly matches with other non-participants. Tea and coffee available as usual, and a friendly atmosphere to enjoy a game! We hope to be welcoming John Abson back from a break! |
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14-10-09 |
Lightning #4 Jamie Brotheridge: top-gun for speed! |
Jamie Brotheridge took 7 points out of 8 to win the lightning tourney by a clear point from Rod who is coming back in style from a long break from chess. Three other players shared third place with 5.5 and every one of the 12 competitors went home with at least a point to their name. |
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03-10-09 |
2009 Victorian Country Chess Champions |
Mark Bruere and Stewart Booth share the shield! more... |
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07-10-09 |
Lightning #4 |
You have five minutes to stay alive and do you worst in this year's fourth lightning tournament. 5 minute Swiss. |
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27-09-09 |
Ballarat Junior Open Tournament |
AND the winner is.... Chris Darveniza! Well done, Chris! |
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03-10-09 |
2009 Victorian Country Chess Championships |
The Victorian Rural Chess League is excited to announce that the 2009 VCCC will be held over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October. more... |
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23-09-09 |
Ballarat Junior Open Tournament |
| On Sunday 27th September we are running the Ballarat Chess Club junior open tournament. Any primary or secondary aged student is able to enter. The tournament will be staged at Ballarat Clarendon College’s Sturt St campus. Our aim is to promote chess amongst the junior community in Ballarat and we would like to offer an “IPod Nano” as first prize to generate some incentive to the prospective participants. So, if you are a student who can play and wants an IPod Nano, come to Clarendon on Sunday 27th; signs will be posted showing you where to go! |
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23-09-09 |
Allegro #2 |
Rounds 4 & 5 will be played this Wednesday. Late entry is permitted all throughout the tourney, so feel free to join in! |
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16-09-09 |
Allegro #2 |
Rounds 3 & 4 will be played this Wednesday. Some players are not playing the Allegro and are still available for casual games, so come along even if you missed the start of this tourney! |
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06-09-09 |
September ratings updated |
The ratings have been updated on the members page. more... The fee schedule now has its own page. more... |
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09-09-09 |
Allegro #2 |
Come and register for three nights of Allegro: a 6 round Swiss tournament, with 45 minutes on the clock. Rounds 1 & 2 will be played on the night: the time controls are long enough for slower players and short enough so that there will be some time clock slapping at the end of the games as time runs out! |
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02-09-09 |
Learning Session |
We will have a chess evening where the focus is on learning. If you would like to look at some openings, games, or have any questions at all, come along for an informative evening. Casual games will follow. |
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09-09-09 |
Club Championship tied for first |
| Congratulations to Joel Beggs and Rob Loveband, winners of the 2009 Ballarat Chess Club Championship. After two drawn play off games lasting 7 hours, a two way tie was agreed! more... | |
27-08-09 |
Lightning Tournament #3 |
The 3rd annual lightning tournament was played with ten entrants and 8 rounds. Rob Loveband came first with 6.5 out of 8. |
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19-08-09 |
AGM |
The AGM will be held on Wednesday, 19-08-09. Come along and have your say! We'll have some friendly games after the meeting. |
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12-08-09 |
Rapid tournament concluded |
Kevin Perrin's winning streak has taken him to the top of the board in the rapid tournament. Congratulations, Kevin! |
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31-07-09 |
Western Zone Chess Kids - All Hail Angus!! |
College newspaper had this to say about Ballarat Chess Club junior player, Angus Blenkiron, and his performance at the tournament: "While starting slowly at first in getting a feel for the event, quietly confident Angus Blenkiron came home like a proverbial steam train in scoring 5.5 out of 7. This was the top individual score for our school and earned the affable Angus a certificate of distinction. Anyone caught lingering on the black and white tracks when the 'Gus Express’ was rolling through with thunderous fury was irrefutably crushed and soundly checkmated as he demonstrated wonderful technical skills in winning the last five games in a row! This fine flourishing finish gave him 5th individually overall out of 65. An absolutely astounding effort, Angus! " more.... |
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19-08-09 |
AGM Postponed |
The AGM has been postponed another week until 19-08-09. In its place the Rapid will continue with the last 3 rounds. |
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12-08-09 |
Rapid tournament to conclude |
The second of the two nights of rapid games, 20 minutes a side, will finish on Wednesday night. The first round ended with Kevin at the top of the leaderboard on 3 out of 3 points, after an awe inspiring win over Patrick: Kevin was down to 20 secs left versus 3:30 left on Patrick's clock, and managed to eventually win on time, with 1 sec left on his clock! Yu took out Peter with a queen pin, and Rob eked a draw from a lost position against Joel. Tom and Chris played a fighting game with Chris winning on time. |
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05-08-09 |
Rapid tournament |
The first of two nights of rapid games, 20 minutes a side Swiss, will commence on Wednesday night. The AGM has been postponed another week. |
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01-08-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship |
Kevin and Rob played today, a tight game which was even up until a slight blunder on move 41, after moving locations and resetting the clocks. Rob took advantage and finished the game in 7 more moves. Joel and Rob now tie with 1.5 points off maximum. A play-off will ensue upon Joel's return. |
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29-07-09 |
Lightning Tournament |
The Lightning Tournament was taken out in style by Kevin Perrin who, despite his jet-lag, jousted his way to a 7 win no loss result! |
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29-07-09 |
Lightning Tournament |
The AGM has been postponed at least until the first week of August; in its place we will run the second lightning tournament for the year. Lightning tournaments are always hotly contested, so come and join this synaptical challenge where you play from the heart and not the head! May the fastest player win! |
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22-07-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship concludes |
The Club Championship round eleven game Patrick Cook vs Chris Segrave was the only game played on the night. Kevin is due to play some postponed games over the next week, which will determine the outcome of the tournament. |
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15-07-09 |
Round 9 Review |
Only two games were played on the night. Many of the postponed games may well finish as forfeits! John Abson faced unbeaten Rob Loveband in a Sicilian.more... |
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24-06-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship round 7 |
The Club Championship round seven games will be played on Wednesday evening. Reserves section players should finish any postponed games. |
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17-06-09 |
Round 6 |
Michael Schreenan met the very experienced Kevin Perrin in a Scotch Opening. Typically, White launched an immediate attack, giving up a pawn. more... |
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17-06-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship round 6 |
The Club Championship round six games will be played on Wednesday evening. Reserves section players should finish any postponed games as well as the final game for the sixth and last round. |
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03-06-09 |
Round 4 A big night for John! |
John Abson garnered 2 full points, and Patrick Cook faced his fiercest rival Jamie Brotheridge in a key match-up. White dared to venture his favourite Larsen’s Opening and after a tense Opening phase an unusual position, typical of the opening, was reached. more... |
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03-06-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship round 4 |
The Club Championship round four games will be played on Wednesday evening. For the crosstable, Patrick's write ups and some games, see the Championship pages.Crosstable Please send games for inclusion in the database via email to Rob (plain text files or pgn). |
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01-06-09 |
June ratings |
June ratings are now updated on the ACF Active Members page.more... For Ballarat Chess Club member ratings see the Members page. more... |
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27-05-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship round 3 |
The Club Championship round three games will be played on Wednesday evening. Round two had several unexpected results, with some well fought games. For the crosstable, Patrick's write ups and some games, see the Championship pages.BCCC2009 Please send games for inclusion in the database via email to Rob (plain text files or pgn). |
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13-05-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship kicks off |
The Club Championship round one games were all played on Wednesday evening. This years entrants include the usual suspects, plus we welcome back some previous members, as well as four junior players in the reserves. For the roundtable, Patrick's write ups and some games, see the Championship pages.BCCC2009 |
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13-05-09 |
Ballarat Club Championship to begin |
Please come and join the Club Championship starting this week on Wednesday the 13th. It is one of our main rated round robin tournaments, usually going for around a dozen games. With a wide range of rated and unrated players, there will be challenges for all, and some great chess to enjoy! For those who think 5 minute lightning and 20 minute allegros are just skittles, this one is for you! |
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6-05-09 |
Simul News |
Erik arrived for the simul as planned, but was handicapped by a stomach bug; despite being in considerable pain and discomfort he stoically, and with his characteristic smile in place, took on about a dozen Ballarat players. Most chose white, with the exception of Patrick who opted for the traditional black against the Fide Master. By the end of the evening Ballarat members Joel Beggs and Stephen Symons had pegged up wins, with Rob Loveband happy with a draw. Erik said he enjoyed the evening and would look forward to returning next year if possible.Though we may find it hard to duplicate this year's exceptional result next year against a fighting fit Erik Teichmann, we certainly will give him a run for his money!! |
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06-05-09 |
FM Erik Teichmann Simul |
We are excited to announce that Erik, co-winner of the Ballarat Begonia this year, will be coming to Ballarat on May 6th for a Simultaneous Match at our club. All are welcome to this great event, so come along and join in the fun!! If you choose to play Black you can even make White's first move for him (choice of 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3 or 1.b4.) so come prepared with your favourite opening! |
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15-04-09 |
Thematic Tournament |
The Thematic Tournament will be held over two weeks, on the 15th and the 22nd of April. The openings are as follows: |
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19-03-09 |
The Ballarat Begonia 2009 |
The Begonia Tournament was a great success with over 90 players from Australia wide participating in Ballarat's nationally recognized Grand Prix circuit event. We will have some photos and commentary on the website soon, and feel free to download some games from the top ten boards in The Pit. Congratulations to dual winners, Igor Goldenberg and Erik Teichmann! |
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19-03-09 |
Allegro |
A six round Allegro unrated tournament will begin on the 25th, with 2 games per night, and a time control of 45 minutes, no increments. All welcome! |
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19-03-09 |
The Ballarat Begonia 2009 |
The Begonia Tournament was a great success with over 90 players from Australia wide participating in Ballarat's nationally recognized Grand Prix circuit event. We will have some photos and commentary on the website soon, and feel free to download some games from the top ten boards in The Pit. Congratulations to dual winners, Igor Goldenberg and Erik Teichmann! |
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07-03-09 |
March Ratings |
March ratings are out: note for our new juniors; you'll need 6 rated games to get a rating... keep playing! |
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07-03-09 |
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The Begonia Tournament will be held this weekend on the 7th, 8th and 9th of March, at the same location as last year, in the historic Old Gaol building. Please see our info page for information about entry, prizes, accommodation and more. Download an entry form here. Begonia2009EntryForm Please arrive and register before 12:30 at the latest. See you in The Pit! |
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04-03-09 |
Spielvogel Memorial over |
The Spielvogel Memorial finished with Rob Loveband, the tournament winner at 6½, a point ahead of Jamie Brotheridge on 5½. John Abson took a full 4 points and Michael Schreenan 3 points, including a win against the current Club Champion. Newcomers, juniors Yu Liu and Hao Zhang, put up a good fight and will be serious contenders as they garner more experience. table Players: Send your games for inclusion in the database! |
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07-03-09 |
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The Begonia Tournament will be held on this weekend on the 7th, 8th and 9th of March, at the same location as last year, in the historic Old Gaol building. Please see our info page for information about entry, prizes, accommodation and more. Download an entry form here. Begonia2009EntryForm And if you're umming and ahhing about participating in the Begonia Tournament, do please contact Patrick re any queries about fees, accommodation or anything at all! We realise that times are tough for people, with the fires locally, and the financial crisis worldwide. We would like to encourage people to come and have a fun weekend, so talk to Patrick about any difficulties you may be encountering in trying to organise your trip here; he may be able to help! |
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12-02-09 |
Spielvogel Memorial continues |
Four rounds into the tournament, with Jamie and Rob in the lead... For NEW Round 5 pairings see the results page; Patrick is away next week and gets the Bye pairings... Players! Send your games for inclusion in the database! |
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01-02-09 |
The Ballarat Begonia 2009 |
The Begonia Tournament will be held on the weekend of the 7th, 8th and 9th of March, at the same location as last year, in the historic Old Gaol building. For information about accommodation bookings please contact Patrick Cook. We will have more information about the tournament in general posted here shortly. For more info:.more... |
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29-01-09 |
Spielvogel Memorial off and running |
After a first night of social games at our new venue, the club got down to some serious chess with the 2009 Spielvogel Memorial. A 7 round Swiss in honour of a great player and administrator from the past, the tournament offers players a chance to warm up for the forthcoming Begonia Open, and attracted 9 players including 2 new members.more... |
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14-01-09 |
New location, new equipment, new members! |
Our first meeting for the year was enjoyed by three new members: two juniors, Chris, a local, and Hao from Wollongong, as well as seasoned veteran Matt, whose strong chess skills will hopefully spur us all on!! Our regulars enjoyed social chess as a warm-up for the Spielvogel Memorial which begins next week. Please arrive a little early to register your interest in playing; all welcome! more on members... |
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14-01-09 |
We have moved... |
As of January 14, 2009, our new location is the meeting room at the front of the Central Highlands Regional Library. For details see our Contact page . more... |
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14-01-09 |
THE BIG MOVE |
As of January 14 2009, we will be changing our meeting time from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings. Our last Thursday night of chess at the Eastwood St Leisure Complex was on the 11th of December 2008. |
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