Ballarat Junior Chess news update - Term 3
Are you in the news? Lots of news about recent events can be read here....Notice of AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Ballarat Chess Club Inc will be held in the Humffray Room at the BMI 117 Sturt Street on Thursday 29 September 2022 starting at 7.30pm. Please note that whilst all are welcome to attend, only members who have a full subscription are able to vote and to be nominated for any office bearer position. More details available here...
Ballarat Junior Chess Club Spring Cup and Holiday Fun
2022 Victorian Country Chess Championship
To be held in Geelong over the weekend of 15th and 16th October are coming in steadily. Don’t forget that the cut-off date for the early bird discounted entry fee is 7th October. Payment can be completed by EFT to the bank account shown on the entry form or by card at the TryBooking link of https://www.trybooking.com/CBRIL
See more information and download and entry form here...
September ratings are out - Scott back to Numero Uno!
Special mentions are: Om O’Carroll (1435) is 11th female U20 of Australia; Paul Dao (1701) is 5th U12 Australian Junior and 13th U14 Aust Junior; He is currently no. 2 of the club, behind Scott. Gus, the previous no. 1, has now dropped to 5th place. Most improved players are: Paul D (+56), Jamie B(+56), Vipin J (+170, outstanding!), Michael L (+92), Peter S (+60) and Anna (+52).
Teters Board 1 battle
The 2022 Teters tournament has quietly/silently progressed to round 5, with only 2 more rounds left to decide the winners of the top and bottom (the Reserves) halves of the field, respectively, based on ratings. Before the start of round 5, we saw Scott Stewart, the number 2 seed, leading with a 100% score of 4 points, a full point ahead of a bunch of 5 players on 3 points, ie. Gus Blenkiron, Scott’s opponent in round 5; and the pairs Kevin Perrin vs Bas van Riel and Jamie Brotheridge vs Vipin Jyani. Then, at 2.5 points each, followed by Paul Dao and Peter Stickland. For the pairings and results of the lower boards, I like to refer to the result’s page of the Club’s website. Meanwhile, I will briefly comment on the top 4 boards only. These games are recorded on the Club’s website, and can be re-played online in the games tab above.
The topboard between the two highest rated players of the club, was a very entertaining and creative game. The opening appeared to be homegrown, unusual and potentially fun to watch. Unfortunately, Scott was too efficient and ruthless to allow an extended fight. Gus white vs Scott black.
Read more here on the Teters' Tournament page...
Championship Epilogue
While the Championship title was decided in Round 11, there was still the matter of some postponed games and the Reserves and 'C' grade titles to be determined.
2 of the unplayed games were duly played! Vipin Jyani versus Peter Stickland from Round 10 was a London System that proved to be a tough and absorbing game that ended in a draw after 39 moves.
Jamie Brotheridge versus Kevin Perrin from Round 9 was a Spanish. Kevin gained an advantage in the late middle game with sprightly play, but slipped in the subsequent tactics and fell to a painful defeat that left him in last place for the tournament!
2 games, Vipin Jyani versus Scott Stewart from Round 5, and Angus Blenkiron versus Vipin Jyani from Round 11 were annulled.
The play-off game Michael Leckie versus Xavier Demmert to decide the Reserves and(!) the 'C' grade Championships was also played. The two met in Round 4 of the Teters Memorial, and it was agreed that the game would also count as their Championship play-off. Surely a unique occurrence in the Club's history! The game was suitably dramatic, with Xavier snatching victory from a difficult position to win the John Baynham Memorial “Reserves” Championship 2022. Congratulations. This meant that James Emselle, as the next highest scoring eligible player, wins the John Abson 'C' grade Championship 2022. Congratulations also.
Scott Stewart with the Andy Miitel Trophy.
Michael Leckie plays Xavier Demmert (on right). 
Patrick presents medal to James Emselle (right)
Geelong Challenge 2022
The 12th annual match between Ballarat Chess Club and Geelong Chess Club for the Fletcher-Morrow Shield was played on schedule on Sunday 14th August at the Geelong Chess Club rooms. As usual Geelong was armed to the teeth with a strong team, and heavily out-rated us on all boards, so it was no surprise that they gained revenge for last years upset defeat with a powerful 7.5-2.5 victory. The overall score is now 8-3 with 1 tie in favour of Geelong. Paul Dao played an impressive game against Alistair Anderson on Board 2 which you can view here. Patrick Cook and Kevin Perrin from Ballarat remain the only players to have competed in all 12 matches. Crosstable and results here...
Chess Coaching 2022
Chess Coaching is available throughout the year. We welcome enrolments at any time from any junior chess player whether they have been part of the program previously or not.
Term Dates:
Term 1 - 3rd Febuary 2022 – 7th April 2022Term 2 - 28th April 2022 – 23rd June 2022
Term 3 - 14th July 2022 – 15th Sept 2022
Term 4 - 6th October 2022 – 8th Decr 2022
BMI venue
To all members and chess players
The Humffray Room at the BMI is now in use for all club activities.
In relation to Covid matters, the Government announced that virtually all regulations which have impacted the club and the BMI have changed. The vaccination mandate has been removed along with the QR code check-in requirement. Wearing a face mask is optional as well.
For info re coaching, junior tournaments, study resources etc.. visit the Ballarat Junior Chess Club pages.
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, check out ChessKid.com.
How to write down your games - Chess notation made easy here!
Coffee and Chess
Coffee shop chess has taken a hit during the pandemic. However, there are some chess sets for use at the following cafes... just ask!
Racers on the lake, Frangos and Homeground, both on Sturt.
Chess is also played at Beechworth Bakery and Woowookarung lookout, but you'll need to take your own set.
Bas' Chess Columns
From April 1991 until March 1993, Bas wrote a fortnightly chess column for the Ballarat Courier. Read them here
