Ballarat Chess Club

Ballarat Chess Club Ballarat Chess Club
Meets 7:00 pm every Thursday at BMI
See https://www.ballaratchess.com for schedu

Ballarat Chess Club meets online during the Covid crisis at https://www.chess.com/club/ballarat-chess-club

Scott, now the only undefeated player, nominally leads the tournament on 1/4.Fisher Tournament Round 4: Finally, someone...
31/08/2026

Scott, now the only undefeated player, nominally leads the tournament on 1/4.
Fisher Tournament Round 4:
Finally, someone has put an end to Declan’s unbeaten streak. It took until August 27th, but after going 18 games unbeaten, Declan finally suffered his first loss. Funnily enough, Rodney came into the game prepared specifically for the Black pieces, only to realise he was actually playing White, throwing all of his careful preparation out the window. Report continues here... https://ballaratchess.com/fisher.html?year=2026

Fisher Tournament Rd 3 ReportFisher A: Declan plays 1.c4 against his unpredictable opponent, Paul Marko, as he looks to ...
22/08/2026

Fisher Tournament Rd 3 Report
Fisher A: Declan plays 1.c4 against his unpredictable opponent, Paul Marko, as he looks to expand his repertoire. Marko falters in the middlegame with a premature h-pawn push, while White already has a crushing space advantage by move 12.d4, with five pawns on the fourth rank. Declan capitalises on this with a huge early advantage. The game-deciding blunder comes on move 22.Qd7??, where Declan finds the right idea to win the game. See the game and report which continue here... https://ballaratchess.com/fisher.html?year=2026

Charles Fisher Tournament Round 1The first ever Charles Fisher Tournament began on Thursday night. Round‑robin pairings ...
10/08/2026

Charles Fisher Tournament Round 1
The first ever Charles Fisher Tournament began on Thursday night. Round‑robin pairings featuring, more or less, the top sixteen players in the club make things exciting in both Fisher A and Fisher B. The A Grade is of course led by Club Champion CM Declan Smith, who is still yet to lose a game this year. That raises the question: is this all just a race for second place? Although, as always, anything can happen on the sixty‑four squares. Read more at https://ballaratchess.com/fisher.html

Congratulations to Club Championship Winners!Minsadi, our new Women's Champion, Methuja, the Reserves' winner, and Morga...
10/08/2026

Congratulations to Club Championship Winners!
Minsadi, our new Women's Champion, Methuja, the Reserves' winner, and Morgan, the C-Grade winner, receiving their medals from Peter, the Club President. Read more at www.ballaratchess.com/clubchampionship.html

Charles Fisher TournamentRound 1 will commence on Thursday 6th, with the two Round Robins and the open Swiss being the f...
01/08/2026

Charles Fisher Tournament
Round 1 will commence on Thursday 6th, with the two Round Robins and the open Swiss being the format for the new tournament. Round Robin pairings can be seen on the Fisher Tournament page for the whole 7 rounds. https://ballaratchess.com/fisher.html

Chess Coaching – Term 3, 2026To all Ballarat Junior Chess Club members, parents, and chess players: We are very pleased ...
09/07/2026

Chess Coaching – Term 3, 2026
To all Ballarat Junior Chess Club members, parents, and chess players:
We are very pleased to announce that Chess coaching and games sessions for Term 3 of 2026 are back and present the information and registration details on the BJCC page.
There are some exciting changes coming this term. Simon Rutherford was the coach who started this program at the BJCC in 2020, and he is returning as an additional coach. Simon is a FIDE chess master and has a FIDE rating of 2279. He will take a group of up to 8 advanced students in a separate coaching session in the Hooper Room on the ground floor at the BMI. That group will be chosen from students nominated by Scott Stewart, James Watson and Rob Bailey. This group will have a different format designed by Simon. Students will have a chance of joining this group as places become available after they complete the worksheet program. This should provide students with an incentive for advancement within the existing program. More details about how to enrol here... https://ballaratchess.com/bjcc/index.html

Winter Rapid Round RobinThursday 9th in week two of the school holidays we will hold a Round Robin - 5 rounds with 6 pla...
08/07/2026

Winter Rapid Round Robin
Thursday 9th in week two of the school holidays we will hold a Round Robin - 5 rounds with 6 players per section, 10 minutes, no increment! Make your moves within 10 minutes or else... no pressure!
GM Darryl Johansen Simultaneous Exhibition Report
For the second year running, GM Darryl Johansen visited Ballarat Chess Club on a cold and wet Thursday evening to play against all contenders up for a challenge.
30 boards upstairs with GM Johansen, 5 boards downstairs with CM Declan Smith, and between them they only conceded one half of a point. Last year three draws were achieved, one by Declan and two from Minsi and her dad, and this year Rob Loveband was the only one to get a half point score in the exhibition. Read more and see the photos here... https://ballaratchess.com/news.html

The 2026 Club Championship has officially concluded. Declan Smith clinched the overall title with a commanding 8/9, fini...
30/06/2026

The 2026 Club Championship has officially concluded. Declan Smith clinched the overall title with a commanding 8/9, finishing just ahead of James Watson on 7.5/9. Making his win back‑to‑back years, he is now poised to join the greats of the club’s history if he delivers again next year — achieving a feat only matched by Van Riel Bas before him.
The B Grade contest proved impossible to separate, with both Methuja and Julian tying on an impressive 6/9. C Grade was won by Morgan Colgrave on 5/9 — a strong start to the event that tapered off in the later rounds, but still enough to secure the title. A breakout performance came from Terrance Wang, the new kid on the block, who dominated the field and finished on 5.5/9 to claim the unrated prize with ease.
The Female Division produced a three‑way tie between Minsadi, Shanaya, and last year’s champion Anna Yated, all finishing on 5/9. A tie‑break will be conducted to determine the final standings and crown the official winners.
The play-offs are as follows: - ⁠Reserves: tie between Julian and Methuja on 6. - ⁠Female champion: 3-way tie on 5 between Anna, Shanaya and Minsi. We look forward to following the play-offs in this exciting finish.
Before the 8th round of the tournament started everyone enjoyed a short celebration of the club's 170th birthday, with photos and food.

Club Championship Round 8Vipin played the Nimzo‑Indian Defense, a sharp option against d4 c4 Nc3 openings. He played a b...
24/06/2026

Club Championship Round 8
Vipin played the Nimzo‑Indian Defense, a sharp option against d4 c4 Nc3 openings. He played a brilliant game until he missed the move 38.Qxh6 because the pawn was pinned to the king. James Watson didn’t let up, securing a victory over Patrick Cook. Sam Song pulled off a masterful win against Scott Stewart, playing into a Sicilian Dragon including a4, a less common choice. Scott later found himself in a somewhat equal position with a lot of imbalances and a position that was almost impossible to defend; he resigned on move 24 after he had no hope of achieving any points. Davin was given a free lesson by Rob Loveband, and Jamie picked up a quick and comfortable win against up‑and‑coming junior Terrance Wang. Continue report here... https://ballaratchess.com/clubchampionship.html?year=2026

Address

Ballarat Mechanics Institute, 117 Sturt St
Ballarat, VIC
3350

Opening Hours

6:30pm - 11pm

Telephone

0499 255 240 www.ballaratchess.com

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