Ballarat Chess Club History

Australian Open in Ballarat, 1984/85

Over the New Year of 1984 to 1985 the Ballarat Chess Club successfully hosted the Australian Open Chess Championship. For a small country club that was quite an achievement and we have gathered some of the newspaper articles, games, photos and commentary from that time to commemorate the event.

In this photo The Courier manager Doug Cowies, the tournament's main sponsor, shakes hands with Rod Jacobs, the then Treasurer, as Secretary Kevin Perrin looks on with fellow club official Frank Anderson.

The total prize fund of $5000 was a lot of money back in the day!

 

A young Kevin Perrin observes play between Stephen Soloman and Eddy Levi. Steven Solomon won the Begonia Open earlier in that year, and 6 more times to the date of writing in 2024.