News Archives for 2017

 

 

For the following year's news archives click on 2018

For the previous year's news archives click on 2016

 
   

 

 

(10 Dec 2017):

NSW Country Junior Championships 2017

Matthew Clarke wins Under 18 Title

Mikaere Pora wins Under 12 Title

Matthew Clarke of Newcastle, aged 13, has retained his NSW Country Junior Championship title by winning the Under 18 finals with a clean score of 4/4. Vincent Qiang of Wollongong, who tied in last year's finals (and was defeated by Matthew in a playoff) came second with 2.5/4.

The Under 12 Championship was won by Mikaere Pora with a score of 9 out of 10.

For full results click on "Results" in the menu at left.


(3 Dec 2017):

Australian Schools Teams Championships 2017

This year's series Australian Schools Teams Championships (ASTC) were held at Sydney Grammar School on the weekend of 2-3 December with 24 teams competing in four divisions. The winners were:

     Secondary Open Division:   Melbourne High School (VIC)

     Secondary Girls Division:   Presbyterian Ladies' College (VIC)

     Primary Open Division:   Waverley Christian College (VIC)

     Primary Girls Division:   Turner School (ACT)

For full details click on the link at top right.


(26 Nov 2017):

Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2017

This year's series of Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments consisted of 29 district tournaments plus finals. Fifty-six schools took part in the NSW finals, including  schools from country areas such as Albury, Bathurst, the Central Coast, Denman, Deniliquin, Gunnedah, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Timbumburi, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong. North Rocks Public School won the finals, two and a half points ahead of last year's winner, Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory.

For detailed results click on "Schools" (at left) and then on "Results" under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments".


(25 Nov 2017):

Primary Schools Competition 2017

The state-wide Primary Schools Competition (for teams of four players), which commenced in second term, has concluded. Over the last few months the 34 zone winners participated in region finals and the 10 region winners then took part in the inter-region finals to determine the country and metropolitan champions, which then played each other in the NSW final. In the Metropolitan final North Rocks Public School defeated Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory on tie-break while in the the Country final Westport Public School defeated St Mary's Primary School Dubbo. Westport then played the Metropolitan champions for the NSW Primary Schools title and in this match North Rocks Public School was victorious. Congratulations to the winners and also to all the other finalists for their achievement in reaching the finals. For full details click on "Schools" in the menu at left, then on the Primary Schools Competition's "Draw & Results" and then on "Finals".

North Rocks Public School will represent NSW in the Primary Open Division of the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Sydney on 2-3 December. NSW will be represented by three teams in the Primary Girls Division (as two states are not participating in this division) they are Lindfield Public School, Neutral Bay Public School and Summer Hill Public School.


(13 Nov 2017):

Country Secondary Schools Competition 2017

Smiths Hill High School wins

Smiths Hill High School from South Coast Region has won this year's Country Secondary Schools Competition, regaining the Country Secondary Schools title that the school held for four consecutive years from 2010 until 2013.  Second was Merewether High School of Hunter Region.

For full details click on "Schools" in the left-hand column and then look under the heading "Country Secondary Schools Competition".


(6 Oct 2017):

City of Sydney Junior Championships 2017

Sterling Bayaca wins Under 18 Championship

Cameron McGowan wins Under 15 Championship

Jason Yan, Joseph Guo, Sebastian Bracks and Toby Huey tie for first in Under 12 Championship

Sterling Bayaca emerged successful in the hard-fought Under 18 division to become the 2017 City of Sydney Junior Champion. He finished half a point ahead of Matthew Clarke and Brendan Xu.

The Under 15 division was won by Cameron McGowan with a score of 7 points out of 8. Second was Anthony Fikh on 6.5 Points.

The Under 12 resulted in a four-way tie between Jason Yan, Joseph Guo, Sebastian Bracks and Toby Huey, who each scored 8.5 out of 11. A playoff is to be arranged for the title.

The three divisions attracted a total of 91 players.

For full scores click on "Results" in the left-hand column.


(5 Oct 2017):

Spring Tournaments 2017

Daniel Melamed wins Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament
Matthew Clarke and Aidan Odenthal tie for first in Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament
Matthew Ko and Kerwin Ma win Orange Spring Under 18 Tournament
Andrew Schumann wins Orange Spring Under 12 Tournament

This year is proving a good year for 13-year-old Daniel Melamed. Having won the Sydney Summer Three-Day and Winter One-Day tournaments, Daniel has now won the Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament. There was a tie for second place between 13-year-old Aidan Odenthal (co-winner of the Autumn Two-Day Tournament) and nine-year-old Sayum Rupasinghe (2016 Australian Under 8 Champion).

Matthew Clarke and Aidan Odenthal, aged 14 and 13 respectively, shared first place in the Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament, half a point ahead of Cameron McGowan. Despite their tender years Matthew and Aidan are both seasoned campaigners with impressive previous results.

Twin brothers Matthew Ko and Kerwin Ma have jointly won the Orange Spring Tournament's Under 18 division. The Under 12 division was won by Andrew Schumann, who finished half a point ahead of Matthew McKenna. As this tournament serves as the Western Qualifier for the NSW Country Junior Championships these four players  have earned places in the NSW Country Junior finals to be held in Sydney in December.

For detailed results click on "Results" in the menu at left..


(30 Sept 2017):

NSW Girls Championships 2017

Celina Wu wins Under 18 Championship
Dhwani Patel wins Under 12 Championship

The NSW Girls (Under 18) Championship has been won by 12-year-old Celina (Yijia) Wu, last year's NSW Girls Under 12 champion. She won every game and finished one and a half points ahead of 14-year-old veteran Amanda Cheng.

Dhwani Patel won the Girls Under 12 Championship with a score of 8.5/9, half a point ahead of 2016 Australian Girls Under 8 champion Katherine Pan.

For full scores click on "Results" in the left-hand column.


(27 Sep 2017):

Anton Smirnov Qualifies as Australia's Youngest Grandmaster

At the age of only 16 Anton Smirnov has met the requirements to be awarded the Grandmaster title. When the title is formally approved by FIDE he will become Australia's youngest grandmaster and one of the youngest in the world.

The be awarded the Grandmaster title a player must achieve three grandmaster "norms" (specific results in high-level tournaments) and also have a rating of at least 2500. Anton's fantastic performance at last year's Chess Olympiad earned him a double norm and he achieved his third norm last week at the Capablanca Memorial Tournament in Crete. He had already met the rating requirement.

Anton no longer plays in junior tournaments, his last being the 2014 Australian Junior Championship, which he won.

Congratulations, Anton!


(17 Sep 2017):

Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament 2017

James Ruse High School wins the Terrey Shaw Shield

Having missed out last year by losing to North Sydney Boys High on tie-break, James Ruse Agricultural High School came back with a vengeance this year to regain the Terrey Shaw Shield by a margin of three points. James Ruse had previously won the competition for four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015.

James Ruse High School also won the Junior Division (Year 7-9), but by a minimal margin of only half a point.

A total of 45 teams from 24 schools participated, fewer teams but one more school than last year.

For full scores click on "Schools" in the menu in the left-hand column.


(15 Sept 2017):

Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition 2017

The 2017 Metropolitan Secondary Schools Teams  Competition, which commenced at the beginning of second term, has concluded. The winners of the three grades were as follows:

Senior Grade (Years 11-12): North Sydney Boys School
Intermediate Grade
(Years 9-10):  Sydney Grammar School
Junior Grade
(Years 7-8): Sydney Boys High School

The competition attracted 278 teams from 79 schools. These were divided into four regions and then into divisions of approximately 8 teams. Division winners qualified for knock-out region finals, the winners of which progressed to the competition (inter-region) finals in each grade. For full details click on "Schools" in the menu at left.

As the competition is in three separate school-year-based grades and does not produce an overall secondary schools winner (with players from any secondary year) a separate selection playoff will shortly be held to determine the Secondary Open team and the Secondary Girls team to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Sydney in December.


(27 Aug 2017):

Winter Tournaments 2017

Daniel Melamed wins Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament
Sterling Bayaca wins Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament
Emerson Maunder wins Orange Winter One-Day Tournament
Vincent Qiang wins Wollongong One-Day Tournament

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Melamed has followed up his Sydney Summer Three-Day victory by winning the Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament. He conceded half a point to Gordon Yang and finished just ahead of David Marsh.

Sterling Bayaca improved on his equal first in the Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament by coming clear first in the corresponding Winter event. Luke Marsh came second, half a point behind.

The Orange Winter One-Day Tournament featured a new winner, Emerson Maunder, who scored 7.5 out of 8, half a point ahead of Kerwin Ma.

Vincent Qiang has won the Wollongong Winter One-Day Tournament, his eighth Wollongong tournament victory.

For detailed results click on "Results" in the menu at left..


(23 Jul 2017):

The Film Magnus

A 75-minute documentary on World Champion Magnus Carlsen is currently being screened at the Palace cinemas in Sydney as part of the Scandinavian Film Festival. Magnus has been called "the Mozart of Chess" and his rise to fame is an inspirational story which chess players and non-players will find fascinating.

   ●   Palace Verona Cinema (Paddington):

        Wednesday 26 July at 1.30pm

   ●   Palace Norton Street Cinema (Leichhardt):

        Friday 28 July at 1.30pm

        Monday 31 July at 6.30pm

 

This position occurred in the final tie-break game of the 2016 World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen (White) and Sergey Karjakin (Black). Can you find the brilliant move with which Magnus won quickly to retain his world title?

Click HERE for solution.


(14 Jul 2017):

NSW Junior Championships 2017

Kevin Willathgamuwa retains Under 18 title

Eva Ge wins Under 18 Reserves Tournament
Marco Zheng wins Under 12 title

Thirteen-year-old Kevin Willathgamuwa has won the NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship for the second year in a row. He scored 6.5 out of 9 (four wins and five draws), finishing half a point ahead of Max Mikkelsen and Cameron McGowan.

The Under 18 Reserves Tournament was won by Eva Ge, who conceded only two draws to finish on 8 out of 9, half a point ahead of Henry Chen.

Marco Zheng won the Under 12 title convincingly with 10 out of 10, three whole points ahead of Michael Harrison, Toby Huey, Orlando Su and Ryan Hii.

Full details may be found by clicking on "Results" in the menu at left.


(25 Apr 2017):

Inter-Schools Competitions 2017

The draw for the Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition is now available click on "Schools" in the menu at left. The competition material (booklets, result cards, etc.) has been posted to participating schools.

The Primary Schools Competition draws for Met East and Met North Regions are now available click on "Schools" in the menu at left. The draws for the other regions will be added progressively over the next few days. The competition material (booklets, result cards, etc.) will be posted this week.


(20 Apr 2017):

Autumn Tournaments 2017

Daniel Jaeger wins Newcastle Autumn One-Day Tournament
Kevin Willathgamuwa, Gordon Yang and Max Mikkelsen tie in Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament
Sterling Bayaca and Aiden Odenthal tie in Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament
James Joseph wins Orange Autumn One-Day Tournament
 

Daniel Jaeger recovered from a first-round loss to win the Newcastle Autumn Tournament with a score of 7 out of 8, a full point ahead of Connor Sternbeck and Noah Kellett

The Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament attracted 205 players, by far the largest number since we moved from our previous venue at Lidcombe three years ago. Three players tied for first place – Kevin Willathgamuwa, Gordon Yang and Max Mikkelsen.

The 158-player Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament finished in a tie for first place between 14-year-old Sterling Bayaca and 13-year-old Aiden Odenthal.

The Orange Autumn Tournament was won by James Joseph, half a point ahead of Matthew Beuzeville.

For detailed results click on "Results" in the left-hand menu.


(26 Feb 2017):

Summer Tournaments 2017

Daniel Melamed wins Sydney Summer Three-Day Tournament
Linus Cooper wins Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament
Raymond Li wins Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament
James Joseph wins Orange Summer One-Day Tournament
Titus Maddern wins Western Riverina Summer One-Day Tournament
Nikhil Reddy wins Wollongong Summer One-Day Tournament

The Sydney Summer Three-Day Tournament, our first tournament of the new year, attracted 74 players, three more than last year. It was won by 12-year-old Daniel Melamed his first appearance at the top of one of our tournaments. He scored 7.5 out of 9, half a point ahead of seasoned campaigners Gordon Yang, Sterling Bayaca and Cameron McGowan.

Linus Cooper has added to his already impressive list of tournament victories by winning the 123-player Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament. He scored 9 out of 9, which was 1.5 points ahead of Max Mikkelsen in second place.

The 100-player Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament was closely fought and the lead changed several times during its 12 rounds. Raymond Li emerged victorious with 10.5 points, half a point ahead of Linus Cooper with David Marsh another half point behind.

The Orange Summer Tournament attracted 42 players (15 more than the same tournament last summer) and was won by James Joseph with 7.5 out of 8, half a point ahead of Kerwin Ma.

The Western Riverina Summer Tournament in Griffith also attracted a large entry of 43 players and was won by Titus Maddern, half a point ahead of William Knight. Titus has won seven of the ten Western Riverina tournaments held over the past three years; the other three have been won by his brothers Gil and Micah.

Brothers Nikhil and Neil Reddy tied for first place in the Wollongong Summer One-Day Tournament. Eight-year-old Nikhil was awarded first place trophy on tie-break and nine-year-old Neil the Under 12 trophy.

For detailed results click on "Results" in the left-hand menu.


(22 Jan 2017):

Australian Junior Championships 2017

Nikhil Reddy wins Open Under 8 Title
Marco Zheng wins Open Under 10 Title
Gordon Yang wins Open Under 16 Title

The first two titles to be decided in the 2017 Australian Junior Championships in Brisbane have been captured by NSW players. Nikhil Reddy has won the Open Under 8 Championship after a playoff with James Gao of Victoria and Marco Zheng has won the Open Under 10 Championship half a point ahead of the 2016 Open Under 8 champion Sayum Rupasinghe of NSW.

The Championships concluded with another title for NSW Gordon Yang has won the Under 16 Championship with 7.5 out of 9.

Other excellent results by NSW players included Theresa Gu's second place in the Girls Under 18, Matthew Clarke's second in the Open Under 14 and Katherine Pan's second in the Girls Under 10.

Ray Yang of Victoria won the Australian Junior (Under 18) title after a playoff with Timothy Harris of Queensland and Yifan Eva Wang of Victoria won the Australian Girls (Under 18) title.

Many NSW players performed well in the subsidiary events Lightning and Problem Solving. In the Lightning Championships Vincent Qiang was second and Max Mikkelsen third in the Open Under 16; Eva Ge was first in the Girls Under 16; Amanda Cheng was second in the Girls Under 14; Marco Zheng was first in the Open Under 12 and Katherine Pan first in the Girls Under 10.

In the Problem Solving Championships Gordon Yang was first and Max Mikkelsen second in the Open Under 16; Amanda Cheng was first and Eva Ge third in the Girls Under 16; Matthew Clarke was first and Cameron McGowan second in the Open Under 14; Yuzhi Wang was second in the Open Under 12; Marco Zheng was first in the Open Under 10 and Kieran Willathgamuwa was second in the Open Under 8.

For details, including scores, see the Australian Junior Championships link (at top right).