NSW Junior Chess League

Congratulations to Ben Gordon and Avinav Sivaraj for retaining their NSW Country Junior titles (Under 18 and Under 12)

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(8 Dec 2024):

NSW Country Junior Championships 2024

Ben Gordon retains Under 18 Title

Avinav Sivaraj retains Under 12 Title

Fifteen-year-old Ben Gordon of Charlestown has again won the NSW Country Junior Championship title. As last year Ben won all five games in the Under 18 finals, which were contested by six players who qualified from three qualifying tournaments in the north, south and west of the state. Daniel Yang from the Central Coast came second, winning all his games except against Ben.

In the Under 12 finals eleven-year-old Avinav Sivaraj of Lake Cathie retained the Under 12 title he won last year and the year before. Avinav dropped only half a point and finished two and a half points ahead of Abir Vidhur Singh of Boorooma, near Wagga Wagga.

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


(25 Nov 2024):

Australian Junior Championships 2025

The Australian Junior Championships (AJC) will be held in Perth from Monday 13 January until Tuesday 21 January 2025. Details are now available see HERE.

The NSWJCL will as usual be engaging top-level coaches to be present at this event to help NSW players prepare for their games and to analyse the games with them afterwards. If you plan to play in the AJC and would like to benefit from our coaching please register your interest by Sunday 8 December – refer to "Coaching" in the menu at left..


(25 Nov 2024):

Primary Schools Competition 2024

The state-wide Primary Schools Competition (for teams of four players), which commenced in second term, has at last concluded. After a lull in the Covid years the competition enjoyed a significant boost in participation in 2023 and this has continued unabated in 2024 with a total of 953 teams from 287 schools taking part, which was 19% more teams and nearly 17% more schools than last year.

The competition was divided into 10 regions and 37 zones, and over  the last few months the zone winners have participated in region finals. The region winners then took part in the inter-region finals to determine the Country and Metropolitan champions – these were New Lambton South Public School and Matthew Pearce Public School respectively. These two teams then met in the NSW final, in which Matthew Pearce Public School was victorious, but only after some excitingly close games.

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".


(25 Nov 2024):

Spring Tournaments 2024

Yifei Hu wins Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament
Daniel Wang and Vihaan Anup Kumar tie for first place in Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament
Avinav Sivaraj wins Central Coast Spring One-Day Tournament
Avinav Sivaraj wins Orange Spring One-Day Tournament
Avinav Sivaraj wins Goulburn Spring One-Day Tournament
Isaac Wang wins Wollongong Spring One-Day Tournament Open Division
Tamara Maghaireh and Bharath Gururaman tie in Wollongong Spring One-Day Tournament Under 12 Division
Daniel Yang wins Newcastle Spring One-Day Tournament Under 18 Division
George Pozharskiy wins Newcastle Spring One-Day Tournament Under 12 Division

Eleven-year-old Yifei Hu has won the Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament, which was contested by 190 players. Yifei led all the way, conceding a draw only in the final round.

Daniel Wang and Vihaan Anup Kumar (both aged 13) have tied for first place in the 129-player Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament. They finished one and a half points ahead of five players who tied for third place.

The Central Coast One-Day Tournament was held in two divisions, Open and Reserves. Eleven-year-old Avinav Sivaraj (the current NSW Country Under 12 champion) won the 52-player Open Division half a point ahead of Lachlan McGrath. Three players tied for first in the 47-player Reserves Division – Xaviour Borg, Caleb Mayhew and Eva Maria Ginto, followed a full point behind by a six-player tie for fourth place.

Avinav Sivaraj followed up his Central Coast win with a convincing victory in the Orange One-Day Tournament, winning every game and finishing one and a half points ahead of the rest of the field.

The inaugural Goulburn Spring One-Day Tournament, which attracted 38 players, was another victory for Avinav Sivaraj, by the same large margin as in Orange.

The Wollongong Spring One-Day Tournament was held in two divisions, Open – won by Isaac Wang, 5.5/7 – and Under 12 – won jointly by Tamara Maghaireh and Bharath (Barry) Gururaman, 7.5/8. This event serves as the Southern Qualifier for the NSW Country Junior Championships Finals, for which only country (not Sydney metropolitan) players are eligible – the Under 18 qualifiers were Flynn Jacob and Alexander Rodriguez (both 4/7) as higher scorers were from Sydney, and the Under 12 qualifiers were the joint tournament winners, Tamara and Bharath, both of whom are country players.

The Newcastle Spring One-Day Tournament was also held in two divisions, with Daniel Yang winning the Under 18 and George Pozharskiy the Under 12. As this event serves as the Northern Qualifier for the NSW Country Junior Championships Finals the top two country players in each have qualified - Daniel Yang and Ben Gordon for the Under 18 and George Pozharskiy and Ahas Perera for the Under 12 (for the latter Joshua Wing was ineligible as he will have turned 12 before the finals, while Ahas won a playoff against Asyush Gangadharan).

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


(11 Nov 2024):

Country Secondary Schools Competition 2024

This year's Country Secondary Schools Competition started in first term with 127 teams divided into six regions, and culminated in the finals, which were held online as a round robin between the six region winners. In a close finish Aurora College came first by one point ahead of Marian Catholic College Griffith (the 2022 champions).

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


10 Oct 2023):

City of Sydney Junior Championships 2024

Yifei Hu and Savin Peramunetilleke tie for first in Under 18 Championship

Leo Gong and Daniel Wang tie for first in Under 15 Championship

Nathan He and Leo Kuncoro tie in Under 12 Championship

The City of Sydney Junior Championships followed the trend set in the previous week's NSW Girls Championships (and indeed in the Spring Two-Day Tournament) – all three divisions produced ties for first place.

In the Under 18 Division 11-year-old Yifei Hu and 14-year-old Savin Peramunetilleke finished half a point ahead of 12-year-old Harvey Zhu, with a large 1.5 point gap before the next contenders. The top three players could have played in the Under 15 Division, but preferred the challenge of the higher age division.

There was no big gap in the Under 15 Division, as Leo Gong and Daniel Wang finished half a point ahead of three players with another four players only half a point further behind.

Nathan He and Leo Kuncoro tied in the Under 12 Division well ahead (by 1.5 points) of the rest of the field, led by Callan Arav.

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


(5 Oct 2024):

NSW Girls Championships 2024

Joy Liu, Linda Qian and Renee Yang Pan tie for first in the Under 18 Championship
Suri Daniel and Clio Goldstein tie for first in the Under 12 Championship

Defending NSW Girls Champion Joy Liu (aged 15) could only share first place in this year's tournament – she tied with Linda Qian (13) and Renee Yang Pan (14). Three players shared fourth place, including 2021 and 2022 champion Chelsea Huey. The last round was extraordinarily close, with any of five girls potentially finishing in first place.

The Under 12 Championship also ended in a tie – between 8-year-old Clio Goldstein and 10-year-old Suri Daniel. Clio won all her games until the last round, when she was defeated by Dhwani Gupta, who finished third. Suri's only loss was to Clio.

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


(20 Sept 2024):

Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition 2024

The 2024 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): Knox Grammar School
Intermediate Grade
(Years 9-10):  Sydney Boys High School
Junior Grade
(Years 7-8): Sydney Grammar School

A total of 329 teams from 86 schools took part in the competition – not as many as last year's extraordinary numbers, but well above previous years. The teams 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 inter-region finals in each grade. For full details click on "Schools" in the menu at left.


(8 Sep 2024):

Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament 2024

Sydney Boys High School wins the Terrey Shaw Shield

This year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament attracted 111 teams, even more than last year's 102 teams. They represented a total of 36 schools (four more than last year).

Sydney Boys High School retained the Terrey Shaw Shield by winning the Open Division. Only half a point behind were three teams – North Sydney Boys High, Sydney Grammar School and Penrith High.

The Junior Division (for Years 7-9) was also very close, with half a point separating the wining team Knox Grammar from James Ruse High and Baulkham Hills High

For full scores click on "Schools" in the menu in the left-hand column then look under "Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament" (bottom middle)..


(19 Aug 2024):

Winter Tournaments 2024

Alaina Vinvent wins  Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament
Alaina Vincent wins Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament
Dylan Smith wins Central Coast Winter One-Day Tournament
Alexander McCosker and Benjamin Dorrian tie in Wollongong Winter One-Day Tournament

Alaina Vincent has won the Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament, despite a surprise second round loss to much lower rated Roger Luo. Roger had not played in our tournaments for over two years, but he has clearly greatly improved over that time as he finished the tournament in second place half a point behind Alaina.

Alaina was untroubled to win the Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament, finishing two points ahead of her nearest rivals Will Wenderoth and Kevin Chen. She conceded only one draw – to Dean Chen, who came equal fourth..

Dylan Smith has won the 111-player Central Coast Winter Tournament with a clean score of 8 out of 8, a point ahead of Daniel Yang.

Nine-year-old Abir Vidhur Singh and 15-year-old Cameron McLean tied for first place in the Orange Winter Tournament, which was contested by 37 players. They scored 6.5 out of 8, finishing half a point ahead of Joshua Grant and Neil Kuchits (the latter aged only 7).

Alexander McCosker and Benjamin Dorrian shared first place in the 35-player Wollongong Winter Tournament, ahead of sever-year-old Neil Kuchits in third place. 

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


(19 July 2024):

NSW Junior Championships 2024

Jean Rusakov wins Under 18 title

Alex Gondo wins Under 18 Reserves Division
Rudra Verma wins Under 12 Championship

Fourteen-year-old Jean Rusakov has won the NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship with a score of 7 out of 9. His only loss was to Saisiddharth Naraharasetty in the last round, but he had already won the tournament with a round to spare. Second was Taifeng Lyu, who won the Reserves Division last year. Saisiddharth tied for third place with Alaina Vincent.

The Under 18 Reserves Division was won by Alex Gondo, a relative newcomer to our tournaments – his only previous NSWJCL tournament being last year's Reserves Division, in which he played only two games. In second place, half a point behind Alex, was Alexander Cantafio.

The Under 12 Championship was won by 10-year-old Rudra Verma, who scored 9.5 out of 10. He finished one and a half points ahead of Callan Arav (aged 10) and Leo Kuncoro (aged 8).

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


(26 May 2024):

Autumn Tournaments 2024

Ben Gordon wins Newcastle Autumn One-Day Tournament
David Guo and Lucas Ni win Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament
Ben Gordon wins Central Coast One-Day Tournament
Sayum Rupasinghe wins Sydney Two-Day Tournament
Mitchell Cook and Wyatt Wieland win Orange Autumn One-Day Tournament
Maxim Micevski wins Allan & Dorothy Wright Challenge Junior Division
Gabriel Peres da Silva wins Wollongong Autumn One-Day Tournament

Ben Gordon has won the Newcastle Autumn Tournament, conceding only one draw (to Daniel Yang, who finished second).

The Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament attracted 202 entries, a record for this venue. It was jointly won by David Guo and Lucas Ni, aged 17 and 12 respectively. Sayum Rupasinghe was leading right until the last round, when a loss to David pushed him into third place.

Ben Gordon followed up his Newcastle win with an even more convincing win (with a clean score) in the 115-player Central Coast  Autumn Tournament. Tying for second were Noyo Akra, Griff Brondum and Leonardo Legovich.

The Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament attracted even more players, 204, than the preceding week's One-Day Tournament. Sayum Rupasinghe was a clear winner with 9.5/10, a full point ahead of Daniel Wang

The Orange Autumn Tournament attracted 38 players and was jointly won by Mitchell Cook and Wyatt Wieland, closely followed by a 9-year-old visitor from Sydney, Lucas Yik.

Thirteen-year-old Maxim Micevski has won the 24-player Junior Division of the Allan & Dorothy Wright Challenge. He made sure of first place by winning all his games, finishing a point ahead of Daniel Yang.

Gabriel Peres da Silva, a newcomer to our tournaments, has won the 27-player Wollongong Autumn One-Day Tournament.

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


(30 April 2024):

Inter-Schools Competitions

Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition: The draws for Met East, Met North and Met West Regions are now available except for Met North's Central Coast divisions, which will be held in one-day format (on Tuesday 21 May). Met South-West Region will also be held in one-day format (on Thursday 30 May).

Primary Schools Competition: The draws for all zones held in weekly home-and-away format are now available. The draws for the one-day zones will be available at or shortly before these zone competitions.

Both: To see the draws click on "Schools" in the menu at left.


(25 Feb 2024):

Summer Tournaments 2024

Jean Rusakov wins Sydney New Year Tournament
Noyo Akra wins Central Coast Summer One-Day Tournament
Harvey Zhu wins Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament
Nestor Chan and Nathan He win Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament
Wyatt Wieland wins Orange Summer One-Day Tournament
Leo Kuncoro wins Wollongong Summer One-Day Tournament

Our first tournament of the year, the Sydney New Year Tournament, attracted 97 players. It was won convincingly by 13-year-old Jean Rusakov with a clean score of 9/9 and a margin of 2 whole points. Equal second were Harvey Zhu and Jonluke Corona.

The Central Coast Summer One-Day Tournament, which had a large field of 101 players, was won by 17-year-old Noyo Akra with a clean score of 7/7, a point ahead of Chamathsara Mendis.

The Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament, which was contested by 159 players, was also won with a clean score. Eleven-year-old Harvey Zhu scored 9/9, finishing 1.5 points ahead of Nestor Chan and Alexander Cantafio.

The Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament was won jointly by 14-year-old Nestor Chan and 10-year-old Nathan He. This was the latter's best result to date. They scored 9.5/11 and finished 1.5 points ahead of six players who tied for third place.

Wyatt Wieland has won the Orange Summer One-Day Tournament with a score of 7.5/8, a  point ahead of Sarayu Prakashbabu.

The Wollongong Summer Tournament was won by a visitor from Sydney's north, Leo Kuncoro, who scored 7/8 and finished half a point ahead of Roy Ye.

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


23 Jan 2024):

Australian Junior Championships 2024

Anh Quan Nguyen wins Australian Junior (Under 18 Open) Title
Reyaansh Chakrabarty wins Under 16 Open Title

The 2024 Australian Junior Championships were held in Adelaide from 13 to 22 January and NSW players secured two titles and many other high placings.

Anh Quan Nguyen is the new Australian Junior Champion – he tied for first place and then won a 2-game playoff against Jayden Ooi of Queensland. Reyaansh Chakrabarty is the Under 16 Open Champion. Reyaansh is not yet 10 years old and, having won the Under 10 Open title last year, he this year elected to play in the Under 16 Division, rather than the Under 10, 12 or 14 Divisions.

Joy Liu tied for first place in the Under 16 Girls (in a combined Under 18 and Under 16 division), but lost the playoff for the title.

Leading Scores:

Under 18 Open (42  players, 9 rounds):
1st Anh Quan Nguyen (NSW), Jayden Ooi (Qld) 7.5; =3rd Seth Peramunetilleke (NSW), Jackie Li (Vic) 6.5.
[Quan won the playoff for the title, 2-0]

Under 16 Open  (38 players, 9 rounds):
1st Reyaansh Chakrabarty (NSW) 8; 2nd Joel Leong (Qld) 7; =3rd Vihaan Anup Kumar, (NSW), Leo Gong (NSW) 6.5.

Under 14 Open  (55 players, 9 rounds):
1st Tedric Li (Vic) 7.5; 2nd Jean Rusakov (NSW) 7; =3rd Lucas Ni (NSW), Daniel Wang (NSW), Bojun (Bryan) Yang (Qld), Ethan Chang (NSW) 6.5.

Under 12 Open (79 players, 9 rounds):
1st Wilbur Hong (Vic) 8; =2nd Xuyuan (Dimitri) Zou (Qld), Justin Xia (Vic) 7.5.

Under 10 Open (87 players, 9 rounds):
=1st Rheyansh Reddy Annapureddy (Vic), Yuwei Wang (Qld) 8; 3rd Terrence Li (Qld) 7.5.
[Rheyansh won the playoff for the title, 2-0]

Under 8 Open (46 players, 9 rounds):
1st Zining Jia (Qld) 8; 2nd Great Boyou Lau (New Zealand) 7.5; Joey Su (NSW) 7.

Under 18 and Under 16 Girls (13  players, 9 rounds):
1st Om O'Carroll (Vic) 6.5; =2nd Angela Feng (Vic), Joy Liu (NSW) 6.
[Angela Feng won the playoff for the Under 16 title, 2-0]

Under 14 Girls(13 players, 9 rounds):
1st Vera Zeng (Vic) 8; 2nd Chanya Rupasinghe (NSW) 7.5; =3rd Deethya Sai Katakam (Vic), Renee Yang Pan (NSW) 6.

Under 12 Girls (21 players, 9 rounds)
1st Vidushi Dissanayake (Vic) 9; 2nd Vicky Qian (NSW) 7; 3rd Sophia Xu (Qld) 6.5.

Under 10 Girls (21 players, 8 rounds):
1st Chloe Wang (Qld) 7; 2nd Senudi De Vas (WA) 6.5; 3rd Emma Zhou (Vic) 6.

Under 8 Girls (17 players, 8 rounds):
=1st Bella Xia (Vic); Iris Wang (Qld) 7; 3rd Adelyn Wang (Vic) 5.5.
[Iris Wang won the playoff for the title, 1-1, then Blitz 2-0]

For detailed results click HERE.



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Membership of the NSW Junior Chess League (NSWJCL), available to juniors under 18, entitles you to participate in our junior chess tournaments and coaching clinics, and to receive the quarterly magazine JUNIOR CHESS, the League's official journal, which gives details of all our activities, ratings, puzzles, games, tournaments, results, etc.  Full members are also  entitled to play in NSW Chess Association events. For details see "Membership" in the menu in the left-hand column.

Australian Schools Teams Championships

Australian Junior Championships


Jean Rusakov
NSW Junior Champion 2024

NSWJCL Hall of Fame


Read Dr Peter Dauvergne's paper on the Educational benefits of chess


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