nswnews

(25 Dec 2007):

Summer Holidays Activities

A brochure containing the details and entry form for our holiday events was posted to all members on Monday 17 December. It was addressed to members' parents as it was accompanied by our annual Letter to Parents to keep them up to date with our activities. Unfortunately, it seems that these letters have been delayed in the post – we have been told that some were not delivered until Christmas Eve (a week after they were posted) and others have still not arrived. We can only assume that the delays have been caused by the postal service being overloaded with Christmas cards.

If your letter has not reached you yet, don't despair! All the details of our holiday events may be found on this website – just click on "Coming Events" (at left).

Our holiday events are:

▫ Summer One-Day Tournament (Thursday 3 January)

▫ Summer Two-Day Tournament (Wednesday-Thursday 9-10 January)

▫ Australian Junior Championships (Sunday 13 to Friday 25 January)
including subsidiary events (Rapidplay, Lightning and Problem Solving) which are open to players not participating in the main Championships.

(16 Dec 2007):

NSW Country Junior Championships 2007

The NSW Country Junior Championships were held in three divisions (qualifiers) - Northern (Newcastle), Southern (Wollongong) and Western (Dubbo), followed by Finals in Sydney. The Finals winners were:

Under 18 – Gill Morris

Under 12 – James Brodnik

The Under 18 was a close battle but the Under 12 was never in doubt and James won by a three-point margin to retain the title he won last year.

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

(11 Dec 2007):

First GM Norm for Zong-Yuan Zhao

Although it is a few years since Yuan left junior ranks, news of his progress is always of interest to our members. After winning the Australian Open title at the beginning of the year he won the Oceania Zonal Tournament in Fiji, thereby qualifying for the 128-player World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. There he lost 2-0 to Norwegian prodigy, GM Magnus Carlsen in the first knock-out round. (At the time of writing Carlsen has made it through to the semi-finals.)

Yuan then went to Budapest where he has just finished playing in a Grandmaster tournament. This was an outstanding success as he came equal first with 7/9 and obtained his first GM norm - he needs two more to become a grandmaster. Well done, Yuan!

(2 Dec 2007):

Australian Schools Teams Championships 2007

North Sydney Girls High School retains Secondary Girls Title

Congratulations to North Sydney Girls High School which has won the Secondary Girls section of the Australian Schools Teams Championships for the third successive year The team scored 16.5 out of 20, four points ahead of its nearest rival, Somerset College of Queensland.

The results of the NSW teams in the other sections were as follows: Knox Grammar School finished fourth in the Secondary Open section (which was won by Balwyn High School of Victoria). Summer Hill Public School tied for second place (behind Hawker Primary School, ACT) in the Primary Open section and was awarded second place on tie-break. Summer Hill Public School came third in the Primary Girls section (which was won by Curtin Primary School, ACT).

For full results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Australian Schools Teams Championships" (on the far right).

(25 Nov 2007):

Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2007

Fourteen teams, the winners of the 14 country district tournaments in the Primary Schools One-Day series, took part in the Country Finals in Sydney on Saturday 24 November. Wollongong Public School scored a convincing win with 24 points out of 27, finishing six points ahead of the next team, Westport Public School (from Port Macquarie).

The Metropolitan Finals – which, with the addition of the top four teams from the Country Districts Finals, doubled as the State Finals – was held the next day, Sunday 25 November, at Lidcombe and was contested by 59 teams. It was won by Summer Hill Public School with a healthy three-point margin over Carlton Public School in second place.

The Primary Schools One-Day series, which is for teams of three players, proved to be a repeat of the four-player Primary Schools Competition (see below), with Wollongong winning the Country Finals and Summer Hill winning the Metropolitan and State Finals.

For detailed results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments".

The Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments are generously sponsored by Accor Asia Pacific.

(23 Nov 2007):

Primary Schools Competition 2007

After a flurry of activity (and in many cases lengthy travel) by the teams which qualified for the inter-region finals, this year's Primary Schools Competition has at last been concluded. Wollongong Public School won the Country Districts Championship and Summer Hill Public School won the Metropolitan Championship. The teams from these two schools then met to decide the overall NSW Primary Schools Championship and in this Summer Hill Public School was successful. This school will now represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships in Brisbane on 1-2 December.

The Primary Schools and Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competitions are generously sponsored by Visy Recycling and the Pratt Foundation.

(20 Nov 2007):

Country Secondary Schools Competition 2007

The Country Secondary Schools finals, contested by the six country region winners at Gosford, has been won by Merewether High School. Although the final margin between Merewether and the next team, Coffs Harbour Christian, was large, the outcome was in doubt until the second last round when the two teams met and Merewether prevailed.

For detailed results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Country Secondary Schools Competition".

The Country Secondary Schools Competition is generously sponsored by the Formule 1 Hotel Gosford.

(26 Oct 2007):

Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition 2007

The Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition for 2007 has at last been completed after a series of ties and rematches in the finals of Intermediate and Junior Grades. Senior and Junior Grades finished in Term 3 but Intermediate Grade continued into fourth term. The winners of each Grade were:

Senior Grade: Knox Grammar School

Intermediate Grade: Blue Mountains Grammar School

Junior Grade: Sydney Boys High School

For detailed results click on "Schools" at left.

The Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition and the Primary Schools Competition are generously sponsored by Visy Recycling and the Pratt Foundation.

(13 Oct 2007):

NSW Allegro Age Championships 2007

The inaugural Allegro Championships, in three separate age divisions, have been completed.

The Under 8 Championship, contested by 19 players ranging in age from 4 to 7, has been won by Anton Smirnov (the Australian Under 8 Champion) with a clean score. The Under 10 Championship, a 12-player round robin, was jointly won by Sean Gu and Andrew Pan, who each scored 9.5/11. The Under 12 Championship was won by Joshua Lau with a perfect score of 9 out of 9.

For full results click on "Results" at left.

(12 Oct 2007):

City of Sydney Junior Championships 2007

Joseph Nguyen (2006 NSW Junior Champion) came from behind to win the City of Sydney Under 18 Championship. Benjamin Cheung won the Under 15 with a healthy margin of 1.5 points. The Under 12 was closer, with Joshua Lau winning by a mere half-point.

For full results click on "Results" at left.

(8 Oct 2007):

Spring Tournaments 2007

Jamie Boyce wins Spring Two-Day Tournament
Oscar Wang wins Spring One-Day Tournament

Jamie Boyce has comfortably won the Spring Two-Day Tournament, conceding two draws to score 10 out of 11, a full point ahead of Joshua Lau.

Ten-year-old Oscar Wang has won the 246-player Spring One-Day Tournament, a point ahead of six players who tied for second place.

For full results click on "Results" at left.

(6 Oct 2007):

Australian Junior Championships
Sydney 2008

The website for the Australian Junior Championships, which will be held in Sydney from 13 to 25 January, is now available – click in the box at top right.

NSW players please note: the deadline for registration of interest in being coached during the Championships by the NSWJCL's team of expert coaches has been extended to Saturday 13 October. Click HERE for details.

(5 Oct 2007):

NSW Girls Championships 2007

Deborah Ng is the 2007 NSW Girls Champion

Fifteen-year-old Deborah Ng has won the 2007 NSW Girls Championship with a clean score, one and a half points ahead of Elizabeth Behne-Smith and the 2006 champion, Joanne Tan.

The Under 12 Championship finished in a triple tie - Clarise Koh, Caroline Shan and Shirley Gu each scored 7 points out of 8, two points ahead of their nearest rivals. A play-off will be held to determine the title-winner.

Full results may be found by clicking on "Results" at left.

(23 Sep 2007):

Schools Chess Challenge 2007

The 2007 Schools Chess Challenge, held in Knox Grammar School's new Function Centre, was contested by 109 teams from 54 schools. The host school won the Secondary Schools Section with Sydney Boys High a close second. In the Primary Schools Section the lead changed from round to round, but Neutral Bay Public School eventually emerged as the winners. For full scores click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Schools Chess Challenge".

(14 Sep 2007):

City of Sydney Under 12 Championship 2006 Play-off

The long-awaited play-off for the 2006 City of Sydney Under 12 title has at last been held. Pasan Perera defeated Cedric Koh 2-0 but will hold the title for only a few weeks as the 2007 Championships will take place in the October school holidays.

(13 Jul 2007):

NSW Junior Championships 2007

Max Illingworth wins NSW Junior Championship
Pasan Perera and Joshua Lau tie for Under 12 Championship

Fourteen-year-old Max Illingworth has won the NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship by a margin of one and a half points, conceding only half a point in nine rounds. The Under 12 Championship produced a tie between Pasan Perera and defending champion Joshua Lau; a play-off will be held for the title.

For full results see Results in the menu at left. To see some of the Under 18 games, click HERE.

(6 Jul 2007):

Winter Tournaments 2007

Charley Peng and John Papantoniou have jointly won the Winter One-Day Tournament, which attracted a near-record 280 participants.

John Papantoniou was also victorious in the Winter Two-Day Tournament, this time capturing first place on his own. His successes follow his big win last month of the Under 1600 Division of the NSW Open.

For full scores click on Results at left.

(24 Jun 2007):

Secondary Schools One-Day Teams Tournament

for the Terrey Shaw Shield

The Open Division in this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament has been won by Sydney Grammar School after an exciting finish. A tie with Fort Street High School seemed highly likely right up until the last few seconds of the last game, but Fort Street unexpectedly lost this crucial game and had to be content with sharing second place with Normanhurst Boys High School just .

North Sydney Boys High School had a convincing win in the Junior Division (Years 7-9), finishing four and a half points ahead of Newington College and Sydney Boys High School.

For full details chick HERE.

(31 May 2007):

Inter-Schools Competitions

Follow your school's results in the Inter-schools competition (Primary, Metropolitan Secondary or Country Secondary). Click on "Schools" in the menu at left and then on "Draw & Results" under the appropriate competition.

(19 Apr 2007):

Autumn Tournaments 2007

The Autumn One-Day Tournament, which attracted 264 players, was won jointly by Andrew Jung and Hayden Van Rys who each scored 7 out of 7.

The Autumn Two-Day Tournament was even more popular than the One-Day event, attracting 277 players. It was won by NSW Junior Champion Joseph Nguyen with a picket-fence score of 11/11.

For full scores of both tournaments see "Results" at left.

(6 Mar 2007):

Country Secondary Schools Teams Competition 2007

This year's Country Secondary Schools Competition is under way! The draw for the first round has been posted to participating schools and is also available on the website (click on "Schools" at left).

(23 Feb 2007):

Inter-Schools Teams Competitions 2007

Invitations and entry forms for our main inter-schools competitions were posted several weeks ago. Entry closing dates are as follows:

♦ Primary Schools Competition – Friday 2 March

♦ Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition – Friday 9 March

♦ Country Secondary Schools Competition – Friday 23 February

Please make sure your school enters on time. (However, if you miss the deadline we may still be able to accept your teams, provided the competition draw has not been scheduled.)

For full details, including downloadable entry forms click on "Schools" at left.

Three NSW players have won titles at the 2007 Australian Junior Championships in Canberra:

New Year Tournament: Fourteen-year-old Max Illingworth repeated his success of a year ago by winning this year's three-day New Year Tournament, again with a clean score. In second place, one and a half points behind, was NSW Junior Champion Joseph Nguyen.

Summer One-Day Tournament: This produced another clean score, this time by Blair Mandla. Four players shared second place, a point behind Blair.

Summer Two-Day Tournament: No clean score here, with the three joint winners each dropping two points. They were 12-year-old Jordan Morris from Wollongong, Blair Mandla (playing in his last tournament as a junior) and George Guse.

For detailed results of all three tournaments see Results at left or just click HERE.

	News Archives for 2007
	For the following year's news archives click on 2008 For the previous year's news archives click on 2006 (25 Dec 2007): Summer Holidays Activities A brochure containing the details and entry form for our holiday events was posted to all members on Monday 17 December. It was addressed to members' parents as it was accompanied by our annual Letter to Parents to keep them up to date with our activities. Unfortunately, it seems that these letters have been delayed in the post – we have been told that some were not delivered until Christmas Eve (a week after they were posted) and others have still not arrived. We can only assume that the delays have been caused by the postal service being overloaded with Christmas cards. If your letter has not reached you yet, don't despair! All the details of our holiday events may be found on this website – just click on "Coming Events" (at left). Our holiday events are: ▫ Summer One-Day Tournament (Thursday 3 January) ▫ Summer Two-Day Tournament (Wednesday-Thursday 9-10 January) ▫ Australian Junior Championships (Sunday 13 to Friday 25 January) including subsidiary events (Rapidplay, Lightning and Problem Solving) which are open to players not participating in the main Championships. (16 Dec 2007): NSW Country Junior Championships 2007 The NSW Country Junior Championships were held in three divisions (qualifiers) - Northern (Newcastle), Southern (Wollongong) and Western (Dubbo), followed by Finals in Sydney. The Finals winners were: Under 18 – Gill Morris Under 12 – James Brodnik The Under 18 was a close battle but the Under 12 was never in doubt and James won by a three-point margin to retain the title he won last year. Full details may be found by clicking on "Results" in the menu at left. (11 Dec 2007): First GM Norm for Zong-Yuan Zhao Although it is a few years since Yuan left junior ranks, news of his progress is always of interest to our members. After winning the Australian Open title at the beginning of the year he won the Oceania Zonal Tournament in Fiji, thereby qualifying for the 128-player World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. There he lost 2-0 to Norwegian prodigy, GM Magnus Carlsen in the first knock-out round. (At the time of writing Carlsen has made it through to the semi-finals.) Yuan then went to Budapest where he has just finished playing in a Grandmaster tournament. This was an outstanding success as he came equal first with 7/9 and obtained his first GM norm - he needs two more to become a grandmaster. Well done, Yuan! (2 Dec 2007): Australian Schools Teams Championships 2007 North Sydney Girls High School retains Secondary Girls Title Congratulations to North Sydney Girls High School which has won the Secondary Girls section of the Australian Schools Teams Championships for the third successive year The team scored 16.5 out of 20, four points ahead of its nearest rival, Somerset College of Queensland. The results of the NSW teams in the other sections were as follows: Knox Grammar School finished fourth in the Secondary Open section (which was won by Balwyn High School of Victoria). Summer Hill Public School tied for second place (behind Hawker Primary School, ACT) in the Primary Open section and was awarded second place on tie-break. Summer Hill Public School came third in the Primary Girls section (which was won by Curtin Primary School, ACT). For full results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Australian Schools Teams Championships" (on the far right). (25 Nov 2007): Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2007 Fourteen teams, the winners of the 14 country district tournaments in the Primary Schools One-Day series, took part in the Country Finals in Sydney on Saturday 24 November. Wollongong Public School scored a convincing win with 24 points out of 27, finishing six points ahead of the next team, Westport Public School (from Port Macquarie). The Metropolitan Finals – which, with the addition of the top four teams from the Country Districts Finals, doubled as the State Finals – was held the next day, Sunday 25 November, at Lidcombe and was contested by 59 teams. It was won by Summer Hill Public School with a healthy three-point margin over Carlton Public School in second place. The Primary Schools One-Day series, which is for teams of three players, proved to be a repeat of the four-player Primary Schools Competition (see below), with Wollongong winning the Country Finals and Summer Hill winning the Metropolitan and State Finals. For detailed results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments". The Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments are generously sponsored by Accor Asia Pacific. (23 Nov 2007): Primary Schools Competition 2007 After a flurry of activity (and in many cases lengthy travel) by the teams which qualified for the inter-region finals, this year's Primary Schools Competition has at last been concluded. Wollongong Public School won the Country Districts Championship and Summer Hill Public School won the Metropolitan Championship. The teams from these two schools then met to decide the overall NSW Primary Schools Championship and in this Summer Hill Public School was successful. This school will now represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships in Brisbane on 1-2 December. The Primary Schools and Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competitions are generously sponsored by Visy Recycling and the Pratt Foundation. (20 Nov 2007): Country Secondary Schools Competition 2007 The Country Secondary Schools finals, contested by the six country region winners at Gosford, has been won by Merewether High School. Although the final margin between Merewether and the next team, Coffs Harbour Christian, was large, the outcome was in doubt until the second last round when the two teams met and Merewether prevailed. For detailed results click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Country Secondary Schools Competition". The Country Secondary Schools Competition is generously sponsored by the Formule 1 Hotel Gosford. (26 Oct 2007): Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition 2007 The Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition for 2007 has at last been completed after a series of ties and rematches in the finals of Intermediate and Junior Grades. Senior and Junior Grades finished in Term 3 but Intermediate Grade continued into fourth term. The winners of each Grade were: Senior Grade: Knox Grammar School Intermediate Grade: Blue Mountains Grammar School Junior Grade: Sydney Boys High School For detailed results click on "Schools" at left. The Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition and the Primary Schools Competition are generously sponsored by Visy Recycling and the Pratt Foundation. (13 Oct 2007): NSW Allegro Age Championships 2007 The inaugural Allegro Championships, in three separate age divisions, have been completed. The Under 8 Championship, contested by 19 players ranging in age from 4 to 7, has been won by Anton Smirnov (the Australian Under 8 Champion) with a clean score. The Under 10 Championship, a 12-player round robin, was jointly won by Sean Gu and Andrew Pan, who each scored 9.5/11. The Under 12 Championship was won by Joshua Lau with a perfect score of 9 out of 9. For full results click on "Results" at left. (12 Oct 2007): City of Sydney Junior Championships 2007 Joseph Nguyen (2006 NSW Junior Champion) came from behind to win the City of Sydney Under 18 Championship. Benjamin Cheung won the Under 15 with a healthy margin of 1.5 points. The Under 12 was closer, with Joshua Lau winning by a mere half-point. For full results click on "Results" at left. (8 Oct 2007): Spring Tournaments 2007 Jamie Boyce wins Spring Two-Day Tournament Oscar Wang wins Spring One-Day Tournament Jamie Boyce has comfortably won the Spring Two-Day Tournament, conceding two draws to score 10 out of 11, a full point ahead of Joshua Lau. Ten-year-old Oscar Wang has won the 246-player Spring One-Day Tournament, a point ahead of six players who tied for second place. For full results click on "Results" at left. (6 Oct 2007): Australian Junior Championships Sydney 2008 The website for the Australian Junior Championships, which will be held in Sydney from 13 to 25 January, is now available – click in the box at top right. NSW players please note: the deadline for registration of interest in being coached during the Championships by the NSWJCL's team of expert coaches has been extended to Saturday 13 October. Click HERE for details. (5 Oct 2007): NSW Girls Championships 2007 Deborah Ng is the 2007 NSW Girls Champion Fifteen-year-old Deborah Ng has won the 2007 NSW Girls Championship with a clean score, one and a half points ahead of Elizabeth Behne-Smith and the 2006 champion, Joanne Tan. The Under 12 Championship finished in a triple tie - Clarise Koh, Caroline Shan and Shirley Gu each scored 7 points out of 8, two points ahead of their nearest rivals. A play-off will be held to determine the title-winner. Full results may be found by clicking on "Results" at left. (23 Sep 2007): Schools Chess Challenge 2007 The 2007 Schools Chess Challenge, held in Knox Grammar School's new Function Centre, was contested by 109 teams from 54 schools. The host school won the Secondary Schools Section with Sydney Boys High a close second. In the Primary Schools Section the lead changed from round to round, but Neutral Bay Public School eventually emerged as the winners. For full scores click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Schools Chess Challenge". (14 Sep 2007): City of Sydney Under 12 Championship 2006 Play-off The long-awaited play-off for the 2006 City of Sydney Under 12 title has at last been held. Pasan Perera defeated Cedric Koh 2-0 but will hold the title for only a few weeks as the 2007 Championships will take place in the October school holidays. (13 Jul 2007): NSW Junior Championships 2007 Max Illingworth wins NSW Junior Championship Pasan Perera and Joshua Lau tie for Under 12 Championship Fourteen-year-old Max Illingworth has won the NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship by a margin of one and a half points, conceding only half a point in nine rounds. The Under 12 Championship produced a tie between Pasan Perera and defending champion Joshua Lau; a play-off will be held for the title. For full results see Results in the menu at left. To see some of the Under 18 games, click HERE. (6 Jul 2007): Winter Tournaments 2007 Charley Peng and John Papantoniou have jointly won the Winter One-Day Tournament, which attracted a near-record 280 participants. John Papantoniou was also victorious in the Winter Two-Day Tournament, this time capturing first place on his own. His successes follow his big win last month of the Under 1600 Division of the NSW Open. For full scores click on Results at left. (24 Jun 2007): Secondary Schools One-Day Teams Tournament for the Terrey Shaw Shield The Open Division in this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament has been won by Sydney Grammar School after an exciting finish. A tie with Fort Street High School seemed highly likely right up until the last few seconds of the last game, but Fort Street unexpectedly lost this crucial game and had to be content with sharing second place with Normanhurst Boys High School just . North Sydney Boys High School had a convincing win in the Junior Division (Years 7-9), finishing four and a half points ahead of Newington College and Sydney Boys High School. For full details chick HERE. (31 May 2007): Inter-Schools Competitions Follow your school's results in the Inter-schools competition (Primary, Metropolitan Secondary or Country Secondary). Click on "Schools" in the menu at left and then on "Draw & Results" under the appropriate competition. (19 Apr 2007): Autumn Tournaments 2007 The Autumn One-Day Tournament, which attracted 264 players, was won jointly by Andrew Jung and Hayden Van Rys who each scored 7 out of 7. The Autumn Two-Day Tournament was even more popular than the One-Day event, attracting 277 players. It was won by NSW Junior Champion Joseph Nguyen with a picket-fence score of 11/11. For full scores of both tournaments see "Results" at left. (6 Mar 2007): Country Secondary Schools Teams Competition 2007 This year's Country Secondary Schools Competition is under way! The draw for the first round has been posted to participating schools and is also available on the website (click on "Schools" at left). (23 Feb 2007): Inter-Schools Teams Competitions 2007 Invitations and entry forms for our main inter-schools competitions were posted several weeks ago. Entry closing dates are as follows: ♦ Primary Schools Competition – Friday 2 March ♦ Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition – Friday 9 March ♦ Country Secondary Schools Competition – Friday 23 February Please make sure your school enters on time. (However, if you miss the deadline we may still be able to accept your teams, provided the competition draw has not been scheduled.) For full details, including downloadable entry forms click on "Schools" at left. (27 Jan 2007): Australian Junior Championships 2007 Three NSW players have won titles at the 2007 Australian Junior Championships in Canberra: Under 10 Open: Oscar Wang Under 10 Girls: Clarise Koh Under 8 Open: Anton Smirnov (See photo, with NSWJCL President Dr Charles Zworestine) Other NSW prizewinners were: Under 16 Open 3rd: Jeffrey Tse Under 14 Open 2nd: William Xu Under 14 Girls 2nd: Deborah Ng Under 12 Open 4th: Joshua Lau Under 12 Girls 3rd: Mirakla Mithran Under 10 Girls 3rd: Caroline Shan For detailed results, including games, click HERE. (25 Jan 2007): Summer Tournaments 2007 New Year Tournament: Fourteen-year-old Max Illingworth repeated his success of a year ago by winning this year's three-day New Year Tournament, again with a clean score. In second place, one and a half points behind, was NSW Junior Champion Joseph Nguyen. Summer One-Day Tournament: This produced another clean score, this time by Blair Mandla. Four players shared second place, a point behind Blair. Summer Two-Day Tournament: No clean score here, with the three joint winners each dropping two points. They were 12-year-old Jordan Morris from Wollongong, Blair Mandla (playing in his last tournament as a junior) and George Guse. For detailed results of all three tournaments see Results at left or just click HERE.