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

2026 Club Championships - Registration and DetailsWe are rapidly approaching the Club Championships for 2026 which will ...
22/04/2026

2026 Club Championships - Registration and Details
We are rapidly approaching the Club Championships for 2026 which will commence on Thursday 30 th April. Participation is open to Life Members, current financial members and participants in the junior chess coaching program. Please make your 2026 membership fees are paid prior to the event. If you have any questions on fees contact Kevin Perrin.
The format is the same as last year, a 9 round Swiss tournament with accelerated pairings for the first 5 rounds. (Similar to the Begonia Open).
Players may take up to 2 half point byes in the first seven rounds.
Please register your intention to play in advance to assist the organisation and pairings. You can do this by emailing the tournament director, Julian, Anna, or Peter.
Early registration is particularly important if you intend to take a half point bye in Round 1, as the accelerated format makes late additions difficult.
If you have any questions, please contact Peter or any members of the tournament committee. Contact and tournament info here: https://ballaratchess.com/clubchampionship.html

Chris Depasquale writes a great chess column in The Age every Saturday. Last edition featured players from the Begonia O...
23/02/2026

Chris Depasquale writes a great chess column in The Age every Saturday. Last edition featured players from the Begonia Open - some of the players are still coming every year for 40 years or more!

All Reports by Chess Reporter: Alberto BijuSpielvogel Memorial Round 3Board 1 saw Declan Smith play Rodney Jacobs, which...
20/02/2026

All Reports by Chess Reporter: Alberto Biju
Spielvogel Memorial Round 3
Board 1 saw Declan Smith play Rodney Jacobs, which showed a very exciting battle, with Declan rolling down the kingside with a rook lift and various pawn breaks. Though Rodney defended commendably, Declan put the game away by playing a nice tactic: 30.Qxf6+, which picked up the exchange after …Qxf6 31.Nd7+ Kf7 32.Nxf6 Kxf6. ( https://ballaratchess.com/pgn-viewer/view.php?collection_id=11262&game_id=1197981 )
Board 2 saw another slugfest, with Scott making a faulty bishop sacrifice with 19…Bxh3, looking into the line gxh3 and Qg3+, which looked to double-attack the bishop and the king. However, he later found the elementary retrieving move Bg2, which saves the bishop and blocks the check. Scott later jokes in his notes that he had “momentarily forgotten that bishops can move to block check. Damn.”
However, with Scott’s admirable efforts to stay in the game, his opponent Rob Loveband struggled to find a way to kill the game off and later found himself in time trouble, which caused him to blunder the game away.
The game between Sam Song and Patrick Cook is another instructive game. The game started with a rare side-line of the Alekhine Defence called the Scandinavian Variation , which turned into a pretty equal middlegame. Patrick, of course, true to form, took this chance to offer a draw, invoking the infamous “Patrick’s Curse,” where if his opponent accepts the draw he is satisfied with the result, but the curse works when the opponent decides to fight on, where often they end up losing the game. Whether the curse struck again is up for debate, but Patrick’s rook-endgame technique certainly did, converting it with trademark precision.
He joins Declan and Scott as the front-runners of the tournament on 3/3, a strong start to the year for the seven-time club champion. In other news, the two newcomers continue to impress, with Kynan Thomson scoring a well-fought draw with Leckie Michael in a Caro–Kann Exchange Variation, with both players playing almost perfect chess. Patrick Moon defeats the aggressive Paul Marko with tough attacking chess. See the game here... ( https://ballaratchess.com/pgn-viewer/view.php?collection_id=11262&game_id=1197975 )
More at https://ballaratchess.com/events/2026/2026spielvogel.html

Spielvogel Round 2On the top board, Declan Smith chose to challenge Paul Marko with a Taimanov Sicilian. The game steere...
17/02/2026

Spielvogel Round 2
On the top board, Declan Smith chose to challenge Paul Marko with a Taimanov Sicilian. The game steered into a sharp middlegame where Declan eventually won a piece — and with it, the game.
The clash between Scott Stewart and Shanaya Guha was one of the most dynamic encounters of the round. Scott opened with his signature Smith–Morra Gambit, but Shanaya seized the initiative with the brilliant tactical idea 13…Nxe4, Scott responded with pressure from a rook on the seventh rank. Despite being on the back foot, Scott fought resourcefully, complicating the position and ultimately turning the tables to secure the win. A highly entertaining game well worth revisiting here... https://ballaratchess.com/pgn-viewer/view.php?collection_id=11262&game_id=1197968 Report continues here.... https://www.ballaratchess.com/events/2026/2026spielvogel.html

Spielvogel Memorial 2026There is an air of excitement in the Ballarat chess scene with the start of the first classical ...
11/02/2026

Spielvogel Memorial 2026
There is an air of excitement in the Ballarat chess scene with the start of the first classical tournament of the year, the Spielvogel Memorial, which began on Thursday night. The tournament is currently led by our very own CM Declan Smith, who was joint winner of this event with Paul Marko last year. This year, he has widened the gap from the rest of the field by a remarkable 300 rating points. Female representation in Ballarat chess continues to grow steadily, with five entrants—the most we’ve seen in recent years. The top‑rated female competitor this year is Shanaya Guha. Due to the large turnout and the Swiss format, there were predictably no major upsets in the first round. However, we can expect some exciting results in the rounds ahead!
Read More @ https://www.ballaratchess.com/events/2026/2026spielvogel.html

Blitz #1
The first 5 minute Blitz of the year was totally blitzed by Harrison who won seven of seven rounds! His unconventional play forced slower thinking opponents to use their time trying to navigate unfamiliar territory while he turned time forced errors into winning positions. Congratulations to Harrison.

To all chess playersThe 60th Begonia Open Chess Tournament will be held in Ballarat over the Victorian Labour Day long w...
30/01/2026

To all chess players
The 60th Begonia Open Chess Tournament will be held in Ballarat over the Victorian Labour Day long weekend from 7th to 9th March 2026.
Entries are coming in steadily and confirmations of participation have been received from Grandmasters Temur Kuyborakov, Zong Yuan Zhao, Darryl Johansen, and Woman Grandmaster Jilin Zhang along with a number of International Masters.
This year will be our milestone 60th consecutive Begonia Tournament and we have increased the prizes in all categories substantially without raising the standard entry fee. The outright prize pool has been increased by over 50% and additional prizes have been added to all categories. We have been able to do this due to higher entries last year and the ongoing support of our sponsors PPT Accounting and Financial, Federation University, Northern Star Chess, Box Hill Chess Club, and the Friends of Begonia.
We are expecting a higher entry than the record 236 received in 2025. There will be a cap of 300 participants, so we encourage people intending to play to enter as soon as possible. The Tournament Information Sheet can be found by clicking herehttps://www.ballaratchess.com/begoniaopen/infosheet2026.pdf and we invite you to participate. Registration and payment can be completed online at the TryBooking link https://www.trybooking.com/DHYTV . This is the only way which you may enter the tournament.
More current and historic information about the event can be found on the tournament website at begoniaopen.com . The website will display the entry list as well as results and pairings during the tournament. https://begoniaopen.com/
This year’s flyer features photos of some of the players who have supported our event over its proud 60-year history. These faces will be familiar as some of them have played over 30 times and a couple have made over 40 appearances! We look forward to welcoming them back in 2026 along with many other long-term supporters.
We are pleased to confirm that Grandmaster Ian Rogers will again provide his very popular live commentary on games. International Arbiter Dr Peter Tsai will be our Chief Arbiter, and the tournament will be both ACF and FIDE rated.
The Ballarat Tech School, which is part of Federation University, will again be the venue. It is a modern facility located at 136 Albert Street, Ballarat Central. It is just over 2 blocks from Sturt Street which is the main street in Ballarat, making it ideal for obtaining accommodation and meals. There is ample parking adjacent to the venue and free all-day carparks nearby.
In relation to accommodation, we encourage people to book it promptly as Ballarat is very busy over that weekend for the Begonia Festival. The club has a limited number of reserved rooms at Craigs Royal Hotel at 10 Lydiard St South, which are available at $174 per night. If you are interested in using one of these rooms, then please advise me within the next 72 hours. After that we are obliged to return the rooms to the hotel.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any queries about the event.
Kind regards
Kevin Perrin
Tournament Manager 0418 533 517
[email protected]

Rapid Play #1 Report by Alberto BijuThe 2026 chess calendar opened with the first of three rapid tournaments schedul...
27/01/2026

Rapid Play #1 Report by Alberto Biju
The 2026 chess calendar opened with the first of three rapid tournaments scheduled for the year. There was a strong turnout of familiar faces returning to action, along with a few new members. The first round of the tournament saw no major upsets, other than Maximus Thekkan picking up a point against Bas van Riel. Round 2 saw Lucas Ware overcome the aggressive top seed, Scott Stewart. The final round of the first night ended with Lucas Ware, Rob Loveband, and Vipin Jyani tied on 3/3. Read more on the Rapid page here... https://ballaratchess.com/events/2026/2026rapid.html

Koelle Final RoundThe closing round of the Koelle Tournament took place last Thursday. Declan Smith sealed an outright v...
25/11/2025

Koelle Final Round
The closing round of the Koelle Tournament took place last Thursday. Declan Smith sealed an outright victory after a tense matchup against veteran Patrick Cook, finishing the event undefeated. Sam Song and Rodney Jacobs fought to a draw, while Paul Marko caught Jyani Vipin in the opening, leading to the quickest victory of the round. In contrast, the matchup between Jamie Brotheridge and Kevin Perrin was the longest game of the round, ending in favour of Jamie Brotheridge. By winning the tournament Declan Smith claims his 4th Major Title of the Year, A GRAND SLAM!! Previous winners include Ruari Coffey, 2021 and Rob Loveband 2011. He wins the tournament on 7/7 with a performance rating of 2107. Rodney Jacobs comes runner-up with a score of 5.5/7.
In the ‘B’ Section Alberto continued his winning streak with a win over Jasan Barnett (see the game in the Games tab), Ryan Lambrou flagged Block Nigel in a confusing Rook endgame, and Methuja Dissanayake got a draw against his coach, Morgan Colgrave, on Board 3. Alberto Biju wins the B Grade tournament on 7/7 points with a performance rating of 1875, with Ryan Lambrou coming in second place with 5/7.
More at https://ballaratchess.com/events/2025/2025koelle.html

Coffee and ChessThere are some chess sets for use at the following cafes... just ask!Fergusson Plarre Cafe just 2 doors ...
11/11/2025

Coffee and Chess
There are some chess sets for use at the following cafes... just ask!
Fergusson Plarre Cafe just 2 doors down from Woolworths in Eastwood shopping centre (who incidentally help sponsor our Begonia Open), 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.

Koelle: Round FiveIn the ‘A’ group, no one seems to have an answer to Declan Smith, who scoops up another point against ...
11/11/2025

Koelle: Round Five
In the ‘A’ group, no one seems to have an answer to Declan Smith, who scoops up another point against Jamie Brotheridge. Board 2 saw a clash between veteran rivals Rodney Jacobs and Bas van Riel, ending in Rodney’s favour. The night's most intense battle was fought between our Club President, Peter Stickland, and the up-and-coming Sam Song. The game was a Queen's Pawn Chigorin Variation lasting 63 moves. It ended with Sam grabbing the win. However, post-game computer analysis revealed a missed perpetual check that would have led to a draw. Read the rest of the report and check the results at https://www.ballaratchess.com/events/2025/2025koelle.html

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