nswnews

(21 Dec 2008):

NSW Girls Championship 2008 Playoff

The first playoff between Sarah Behne-Smith, Clarise Koh and Kathy Kuestler, who tied for first in this year's NSW Girls Championship (Under 18), resulted in another tie, with the individual playoff games between the three girls ending with the same results as in the tournament. A second play-off was then held and in this Sarah beat both opponents to claim the title.

Sarah and her brother David, who come from Newcastle, have thus become the third pair of siblings to have won the NSW Junior and NSW Girls Championships – after John and Diana Purdy (in 1953 and 1957) and Michael and Catherine Lip (both in 1999).

(14 Dec 2008):

NSW Country Junior Championships 2008

Alex Mehan from Thornton (between Maitland and Newcastle) has won the NSW Country Junior Championship (under 18). The Under 12 division was won by Edmund Yu, also from near Newcastle. The finals in each division were contested by six players, two from each of three qualifying tournaments in the north, west and south of the state.

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

(8 Dec 2008):

Australian Schools Teams Championships 2008

Penshurst West wins Primary Open

NSW schools scored a first and three seconds in this year's Australian Schools Teams Championships, held in Adelaide on 6-7 December. Congratulations to Penshurst West Public School for winning the Primary Open Division. The team consisted of Jack Ruan, Harry Ruan, Cedric Koh and Clarise Koh. Second in their divisions were: Sydney Grammar School (Secondary Open), North Sydney Girls High School (Secondary Girls) and Summer Hill Public School (Primary Girls).

Full details are available on the South Australian Junior Chess League website (click HERE).

(30 Nov 2008):

Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2008

The Country Districts finals of the Primary Schools One-Day series (for three-player teams) was an excitingly close struggle between The Junction Public School (Newcastle), St Mary's Primary School Armidale and Wollongong Public School. The first two of these teams were level going into the last round, but St Mary's Armidale faltered and The Junction was able to pull ahead. These three schools, together with St Augustine's Primary School Coffs Harbour, which finished a close fourth, were invited to participate with the Metropolitan finalists in the State finals.

The Metropolitan Finals, which with the addition of the top four Country Districts finalists doubled as the State Finals, took place the next day. Penshurst West Public School followed up its success in the Primary Schools Competition grand final two days before by again winning convincingly – conceding only half a point in 7 rounds (21 games). Carlton Public School was second and Oakhill Drive Public School third.

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

(28 Nov 2008):

Primary Schools Competition 2008

The state-wide Primary Schools Competition, which commenced in second term, has reached its conclusion. Over the last few months the 35 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 grand final. In the Country final Wollongong Public School won a close match against St Mary's Primary School Armidale and then immediately faced the Metropolitan champions, Penshurst West Public School for the State title. In this match Penshurst West proved too strong – not surprising perhaps as its four players have extensive experience in both junior and adult tournaments and all four have recently returned from competing in the World Youth Championships in Vietnam. Congratulations to Penshurst West and the two country teams for doing so well in the finals – and 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 "Draw & Results" and then on "Finals".

Penshurst West will now represent NSW in the Primary Open section of the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Adelaide on 6-7 December.

All three teams mentioned above (Penshurst West, Wollongong and St Mary's Armidale) will be participating in the finals of the Primary Schools One-Day series which are taking place this weekend (29-30 November) – the Country Districts finals on Saturday and the Metropolitan/State finals on Sunday.

(18 Nov 2008):

Secondary Schools Competitions 2008

The Metropolitan and Country Secondary Schools Competitions, which commenced in second and first terms respectively, have both just been completed.

In the Metropolitan competition, the long-delayed final match in Senior Grade was won by Sydney Boys High School. The Intermediate and Junior Grades were concluded last term and were won by North Sydney Boys High and Sydney Grammar.

The finals of the Country competition have been held at the Gosford Formule 1 Hotel (the competition's sponsor) and were contested by the six region winners. In a thrilling finish, the 2006 winner Smiths Hill High School edged ahead of last year's winner Merewether High School.

Full results may be found by clicking on "Schools" in the main menu at left.

(9 Nov 2008):

NSW Allegro Age Championships 2008

The third of the three NSW Allegro Age Championships, the Under 12 division, has been won by Sean Gu, who also won last month's Under 10 tournament. The Under 8 tournament, held in September, was won by Jasper Hong. Full results of all three tournaments may be found by clicking on "Results" in the left-hand column.

(30 Oct 2008):

Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2008

The Primary Schools One-Day series is in its last (and busiest) phase, with the remaining 13 metropolitan tournaments and two country tournaments being held this term. These will be followed by the finals on the weekend or 29-39 November. For details, including the results of the tournaments held so far, click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments" (at bottom left of the Schools page).

(10 Oct 2008):

City of Sydney Junior Championships 2008

All three divisions in this year's City of Sydney Junior Championships produced ties for first place.

      Under 18: Adrian Chau and John Papantoniou
      Under 15: Nicholas Deen-Cowell and Joshua Lau
      Under 12: Andrew Pan and Oscar Wang

Playoffs for the titles will be held in due course.

For detailed results click on "Results" (at left).

(9 Oct 2008):

Coaching at the Australian Junior Championships

The NSWJCL engages top level coaches to help NSW players prepare for their games at the Australian Junior Championships in January each year. Individual coaching takes place before each game and there is also the opportunity for analysis of games afterwards.

For coaching at the 2009 Australian Junior Championships (to be held in Adelaide from 2 to 13 January 2009) please register your interest no later than 12 October 2008 by emailing the following details to nswjcl@hotmail.com – your name, date of birth, contact details (both phone number and email address) and also your parents' names (if you would prefer them to make arrangements for you). [Note that the email address in the Spring issue of our magazine, Junior Chess, is incorrect – there is no ".au" at the end.]

We expect a large number of NSW players to be competing in this event and it is therefore important that arrangements be made well in advance. In the past some of our players missed out on coaching because they applied too late.

Registering your interest (by sending an email as suggested above) does not mean you are making any commitment at this stage – it gives us an idea of who might want coaching at the AJC and enables us to make initial plans. We can then keep you informed and advise you when a firm decision is needed.

(3 Oct 2008):

NSW Girls Championships 2008

Three players have tied for the NSW Girls Championship (Under 18) - 10-year-old Clarise Koh (who had elected to play in the Under 18 rather than the Under 12), 16-year-old Sarah Behne-Smith and 17-year-old Kathy Kuestler. A play-off will be held for the title.

The Under 12 Championship was won by Mirakla Mithran ahead of Shirley Gu and, in a three-way tie for third place, Kashish Christian, Grace Alvares and Theresa Gu.

See "Results" at left for full details.

(3 Oct 2008):

Spring Tournaments 2008

The Spring One-Day Tournament ended in a quadruple tie for first place – Sean Gu (aged 9), Andrew Pan (10), Oscar Wang (11) and Kevin Tan (15) all scored 7/8.

The Spring Two-Day Tournament also produced a quadruple tie, again featuring Sean Gu and Andrew Pan, but joined this time by Eric Shi (aged 14) and Andrew Jung (16).

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

(25 Sep 2008):

Primary Schools One-Day Teams Tournaments 2008

Dates for most of the Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments to be held in fourth term have now been scheduled – click on "Schools" in the main menu at left, then look under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments" (in the bottom left of the table of Schools Competitions) and click on "Entry Details". The dates of the remaining tournaments will be available soon. Invitations will be mailed to all schools in the areas covered several weeks before the tournaments.

(21 Sep 2008):

NSW Secondary Open Team for Australian Schools Teams Championship

The play-off to determine the Secondary Open team to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships has been won by Sydney Grammar School. In the play-off, a four-team round robin, Sydney Grammar scored 10 out of 12, followed by Knox 5.5, Sydney Boys High 5 and North Sydney Boys 3.5.

North Sydney Girls will represent NSW in the Secondary Girls division. The NSW representatives in the Primary Open and Primary Girls divisions have yet to be decided.

(15 Aug 2008):

Primary Schools One-Day Teams Tournaments 2008

This year's Primary Schools One-Day series has started with tournaments in Bathurst, Moss Vale, Albury and Wagga Wagga. The tournaments in Moss Vale and Wagga Wagga attracted record numbers of teams (76 and 78 respectively).

For results of these tournaments and details of other tournaments in this series (there will be 33 altogether) click on "Schools" (at left) and then look under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournament" (bottom left).

(29 Jul 2008):

NSW Junior Championships 2008 - Under 12 Play-off

Jack Ruan has defeated his younger brother Harry in their play-off for the NSW Under 12 title. The score in the two-game match was 1.5-0.5.

Congratulations to both brothers for their excellent tournament result and hard-fought play-off.

(19 Jul 2008):

NSW Junior Championships 2008

William Xu, aged 14, has won the 2008 NSW Championship (Under 18) with a healthy margin of one and a half points. He won his first eight games, which ensured him the title with a round to spare, and then conceded a draw in the final round. Fifteen-year-old Adrian Chau came second, a clear point ahead of five players who tied for third place.

The Under 12 division produced a tie between brothers Jack and Harry Ruan, aged 11 and 9. The tournament was closely contested by a strong field – only half a point behind the leaders were Andrew Pan, Oscar Wang and Erik Ostman. A play-off will be held for the title.

For full scores see "Results" in the main menu at left.

(18 Jul 2008):

Winter Tournaments 2008

Eleven-year-old Jack Ruan has won the 234-player Winter One-Day Tournament with a score of 6.5/7. He finished just ahead of eight players who tied for second place, amongst them Jack's nine-year-old brother Harry. Other young players in the second-place tie included nine-year-old Cedric Koh and eleven-year-old Oscar Wang.

John Papantoniou and Edward Naoumov have tied for first place in the Winter Two-Day Tournament, half a point ahead of nine-year-old Harry Ruan in a field of 216 players.

Benjamin So and Ramon Aich have tried for first place in the 31-player Dubbo Winter Tournament.

For detailed results see "Results" in the main menu at left.

(29 Jun 2008):

Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament 2008

Fifty-five teams from 24 schools took part in this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament, the same number of teams as last year. The Open section – for the Terrey Shaw Shield – was won by Knox Grammar School (with 17 out of 21), ahead of Sydney Boys High School (15) and Ryde Secondary College (14.5). The Junior section (Years 7-9) finished in a tie between Cranbrook School and James Ruse High School, each with 17 out of 21. For full results click HERE.

(28 Apr 2008):

Inter-Schools Competitions

The draw for the Primary Schools Competition is currently being prepared and should become available progressively over the next few days – click on "Schools" (at left), then look under "Primary Schools Competition" and click on "Draw & Results".

The draw for three of the four regions in the Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition is now available (Met East, Met North and Met West) – click on "Schools" (at left), then look under "Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition" and click on "Draw & Results".

(24 Apr 2008):

Autumn Tournaments

Fourteen-year-old Adrian Miranda and nine-year-old Andrew Pan tied for first place in the 252-player Autumn One-Day Tournament. Another nine-year-old, Harry Ruan, came third, and his brother Jack, aged 11, was one of nine players who tied for fourth place.

The Autumn Two-Day Tournament was contested by 263 players and was won by Jamie Boyce, playing in his last tournament as a junior (he turns 18 soon). It has been a good year for Jamie as he also won the Summer Two-Day Tournament in January.

For full results of both Autumn tournaments click on "Results" at left.

(18 Feb 2008):

International Junior Tournaments

Applications are now open for the following international junior tournaments:

▪ ASEAN Age Championships (U8-18, Open and Girls)
Subic Bay, the Philippines, June 12-21 (dates to be confirmed)

▪ World Junior Championships (U20, Open and Girls)
Ankara, Turkey, August 2-16

▪ World U16 Olympiad (Open teams)
Ankara, Turkey, August 15-24

▪ World Youth Championships (U8-U18, Open and Girls)
Vung Tau, Vietnam, October 19-31

▪ Asian Youth Championships (U8-U18, Open and Girls)
(details to be advised)

▪ Asian Junior Championship (U20, Open and Girls)
(details to be advised)

For application form and details click on www.australianjuniorchess.org.au.

(31 Jan 2008):

Zong-Yuan Zhao Becomes Australia's Third Grandmaster

Zong-Yuan Zhao has today gained his third GM norm in a strong international tournament in Gibraltar and, as his rating is well over 2500 (the other requirement), he becomes Australia's third grandmaster (after Ian Rogers and Darryl Johansen). Congratulations, Yuan – three GM norms in two months is a fantastic achievement!

Many of our older members would have played Yuan in junior tournaments as it is only a few years since he left junior ranks – and of course some of our older and younger members would have played him more recently in adult events. Yuan is an enthusiastic supporter of the NSWJCL, as a contributor to our magazine and a coach of our Advanced Training Squad.

(26 Jan 2008):

Australian Junior Championships 2008

The 2008 Australian Junior Championships have concluded successfully. The highlight for NSW was Deborah Ng's win of the Australian Girls title. The Australian Junior title was won by Junta Ikeda of ACT, with a score of 10.5/11, two points ahead of his nearest rivals. Junta thereby completed a hat trick, having also won the Australian Junior Rapidplay and Australian Junior Lightning titles.

For full details, including scores and games, see the "Australian Junior Championships" link in the top right-hand corner of this page.

(10 Jan 2008):

Summer Two-Day Tournament 2008

Jamie Boyce made a clean sweep of the Summer Two-Day Tournament, winning all eleven games and finishing a full two points ahead of his nearest rivals, Garry Mann and Clive Ng. Eight-year-old Sean Gu excelled again, coming equal fourth with Hayden Van Rys. For full scores see "Results" at left.

Zong-Yuan Zhao's many friends and fans across Australia will be delighted to hear that he has gained his second Grandmaster norm by winning a strong tournament in Spain. He needs only one more GM norm to be awarded the GM title as he has already satisfied the other requirement - a rating of over 2500. Yuan acquired his first GM norm only last month (see below, 11 Dec). He is about to start playing in an international tournament in Seville and after that will compete in the Gibraltar Open. These tournaments will provide two opportunities for Yuan to gain his third norm and the coveted GM title.

Our Summer One-Day Tournament, contested by 191 players, produced a quintuple tie for first place, between Edward Naoumov, Alexander Papp, Derek Trang, Hayden Van Rys and Sean Gu. (Sean Gu is only eight years old!) For full scores see "Results" at left.

	News Archives for 2008
	For the following year's news archives click on 2009 For the previous year's news archives click on 2007 (21 Dec 2008): NSW Girls Championship 2008 Playoff The first playoff between Sarah Behne-Smith, Clarise Koh and Kathy Kuestler, who tied for first in this year's NSW Girls Championship (Under 18), resulted in another tie, with the individual playoff games between the three girls ending with the same results as in the tournament. A second play-off was then held and in this Sarah beat both opponents to claim the title. Sarah and her brother David, who come from Newcastle, have thus become the third pair of siblings to have won the NSW Junior and NSW Girls Championships – after John and Diana Purdy (in 1953 and 1957) and Michael and Catherine Lip (both in 1999). (14 Dec 2008): NSW Country Junior Championships 2008 Alex Mehan from Thornton (between Maitland and Newcastle) has won the NSW Country Junior Championship (under 18). The Under 12 division was won by Edmund Yu, also from near Newcastle. The finals in each division were contested by six players, two from each of three qualifying tournaments in the north, west and south of the state. Full scores may be found by clicking on "Results" in the menu at left. (8 Dec 2008): Australian Schools Teams Championships 2008 Penshurst West wins Primary Open NSW schools scored a first and three seconds in this year's Australian Schools Teams Championships, held in Adelaide on 6-7 December. Congratulations to Penshurst West Public School for winning the Primary Open Division. The team consisted of Jack Ruan, Harry Ruan, Cedric Koh and Clarise Koh. Second in their divisions were: Sydney Grammar School (Secondary Open), North Sydney Girls High School (Secondary Girls) and Summer Hill Public School (Primary Girls). Full details are available on the South Australian Junior Chess League website (click HERE). (30 Nov 2008): Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2008 The Country Districts finals of the Primary Schools One-Day series (for three-player teams) was an excitingly close struggle between The Junction Public School (Newcastle), St Mary's Primary School Armidale and Wollongong Public School. The first two of these teams were level going into the last round, but St Mary's Armidale faltered and The Junction was able to pull ahead. These three schools, together with St Augustine's Primary School Coffs Harbour, which finished a close fourth, were invited to participate with the Metropolitan finalists in the State finals. The Metropolitan Finals, which with the addition of the top four Country Districts finalists doubled as the State Finals, took place the next day. Penshurst West Public School followed up its success in the Primary Schools Competition grand final two days before by again winning convincingly – conceding only half a point in 7 rounds (21 games). Carlton Public School was second and Oakhill Drive Public School third. For detailed results click on "Schools" (at left) and then on "Results" under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments". (28 Nov 2008): Primary Schools Competition 2008 The state-wide Primary Schools Competition, which commenced in second term, has reached its conclusion. Over the last few months the 35 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 grand final. In the Country final Wollongong Public School won a close match against St Mary's Primary School Armidale and then immediately faced the Metropolitan champions, Penshurst West Public School for the State title. In this match Penshurst West proved too strong – not surprising perhaps as its four players have extensive experience in both junior and adult tournaments and all four have recently returned from competing in the World Youth Championships in Vietnam. Congratulations to Penshurst West and the two country teams for doing so well in the finals – and 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 "Draw & Results" and then on "Finals". Penshurst West will now represent NSW in the Primary Open section of the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Adelaide on 6-7 December. All three teams mentioned above (Penshurst West, Wollongong and St Mary's Armidale) will be participating in the finals of the Primary Schools One-Day series which are taking place this weekend (29-30 November) – the Country Districts finals on Saturday and the Metropolitan/State finals on Sunday. (18 Nov 2008): Secondary Schools Competitions 2008 The Metropolitan and Country Secondary Schools Competitions, which commenced in second and first terms respectively, have both just been completed. In the Metropolitan competition, the long-delayed final match in Senior Grade was won by Sydney Boys High School. The Intermediate and Junior Grades were concluded last term and were won by North Sydney Boys High and Sydney Grammar. The finals of the Country competition have been held at the Gosford Formule 1 Hotel (the competition's sponsor) and were contested by the six region winners. In a thrilling finish, the 2006 winner Smiths Hill High School edged ahead of last year's winner Merewether High School. Full results may be found by clicking on "Schools" in the main menu at left. (9 Nov 2008): NSW Allegro Age Championships 2008 The third of the three NSW Allegro Age Championships, the Under 12 division, has been won by Sean Gu, who also won last month's Under 10 tournament. The Under 8 tournament, held in September, was won by Jasper Hong. Full results of all three tournaments may be found by clicking on "Results" in the left-hand column. (30 Oct 2008): Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments 2008 The Primary Schools One-Day series is in its last (and busiest) phase, with the remaining 13 metropolitan tournaments and two country tournaments being held this term. These will be followed by the finals on the weekend or 29-39 November. For details, including the results of the tournaments held so far, click on "Schools" at left and then look under "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments" (at bottom left of the Schools page). (10 Oct 2008): City of Sydney Junior Championships 2008 All three divisions in this year's City of Sydney Junior Championships produced ties for first place. Under 18: Adrian Chau and John Papantoniou Under 15: Nicholas Deen-Cowell and Joshua Lau Under 12: Andrew Pan and Oscar Wang Playoffs for the titles will be held in due course. For detailed results click on "Results" (at left). (9 Oct 2008): Coaching at the Australian Junior Championships The NSWJCL engages top level coaches to help NSW players prepare for their games at the Australian Junior Championships in January each year. Individual coaching takes place before each game and there is also the opportunity for analysis of games afterwards. For coaching at the 2009 Australian Junior Championships (to be held in Adelaide from 2 to 13 January 2009) please register your interest no later than 12 October 2008 by emailing the following details to nswjcl@hotmail.com – your name, date of birth, contact details (both phone number and email address) and also your parents' names (if you would prefer them to make arrangements for you). [Note that the email address in the Spring issue of our magazine, Junior Chess, is incorrect – there is no ".au" at the end.] We expect a large number of NSW players to be competing in this event and it is therefore important that arrangements be made well in advance. In the past some of our players missed out on coaching because they applied too late. Registering your interest (by sending an email as suggested above) does not mean you are making any commitment at this stage – it gives us an idea of who might want coaching at the AJC and enables us to make initial plans. We can then keep you informed and advise you when a firm decision is needed. (3 Oct 2008): NSW Girls Championships 2008 Three players have tied for the NSW Girls Championship (Under 18) - 10-year-old Clarise Koh (who had elected to play in the Under 18 rather than the Under 12), 16-year-old Sarah Behne-Smith and 17-year-old Kathy Kuestler. A play-off will be held for the title. The Under 12 Championship was won by Mirakla Mithran ahead of Shirley Gu and, in a three-way tie for third place, Kashish Christian, Grace Alvares and Theresa Gu. See "Results" at left for full details. (3 Oct 2008): Spring Tournaments 2008 The Spring One-Day Tournament ended in a quadruple tie for first place – Sean Gu (aged 9), Andrew Pan (10), Oscar Wang (11) and Kevin Tan (15) all scored 7/8. The Spring Two-Day Tournament also produced a quadruple tie, again featuring Sean Gu and Andrew Pan, but joined this time by Eric Shi (aged 14) and Andrew Jung (16). For full results of both tournaments click on "Results" in the menu at left. (25 Sep 2008): Primary Schools One-Day Teams Tournaments 2008 Dates for most of the Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments to be held in fourth term have now been scheduled – click on "Schools" in the main menu at left, then look under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments" (in the bottom left of the table of Schools Competitions) and click on "Entry Details". The dates of the remaining tournaments will be available soon. Invitations will be mailed to all schools in the areas covered several weeks before the tournaments. (21 Sep 2008): NSW Secondary Open Team for Australian Schools Teams Championship The play-off to determine the Secondary Open team to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Championships has been won by Sydney Grammar School. In the play-off, a four-team round robin, Sydney Grammar scored 10 out of 12, followed by Knox 5.5, Sydney Boys High 5 and North Sydney Boys 3.5. North Sydney Girls will represent NSW in the Secondary Girls division. The NSW representatives in the Primary Open and Primary Girls divisions have yet to be decided. (15 Aug 2008): Primary Schools One-Day Teams Tournaments 2008 This year's Primary Schools One-Day series has started with tournaments in Bathurst, Moss Vale, Albury and Wagga Wagga. The tournaments in Moss Vale and Wagga Wagga attracted record numbers of teams (76 and 78 respectively). For results of these tournaments and details of other tournaments in this series (there will be 33 altogether) click on "Schools" (at left) and then look under the heading "Primary Schools One-Day Tournament" (bottom left). (29 Jul 2008): NSW Junior Championships 2008 - Under 12 Play-off Jack Ruan has defeated his younger brother Harry in their play-off for the NSW Under 12 title. The score in the two-game match was 1.5-0.5. Congratulations to both brothers for their excellent tournament result and hard-fought play-off. (19 Jul 2008): NSW Junior Championships 2008 William Xu, aged 14, has won the 2008 NSW Championship (Under 18) with a healthy margin of one and a half points. He won his first eight games, which ensured him the title with a round to spare, and then conceded a draw in the final round. Fifteen-year-old Adrian Chau came second, a clear point ahead of five players who tied for third place. The Under 12 division produced a tie between brothers Jack and Harry Ruan, aged 11 and 9. The tournament was closely contested by a strong field – only half a point behind the leaders were Andrew Pan, Oscar Wang and Erik Ostman. A play-off will be held for the title. For full scores see "Results" in the main menu at left. (18 Jul 2008): Winter Tournaments 2008 Eleven-year-old Jack Ruan has won the 234-player Winter One-Day Tournament with a score of 6.5/7. He finished just ahead of eight players who tied for second place, amongst them Jack's nine-year-old brother Harry. Other young players in the second-place tie included nine-year-old Cedric Koh and eleven-year-old Oscar Wang. John Papantoniou and Edward Naoumov have tied for first place in the Winter Two-Day Tournament, half a point ahead of nine-year-old Harry Ruan in a field of 216 players. Benjamin So and Ramon Aich have tried for first place in the 31-player Dubbo Winter Tournament. For detailed results see "Results" in the main menu at left. (29 Jun 2008): Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament 2008 Fifty-five teams from 24 schools took part in this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament, the same number of teams as last year. The Open section – for the Terrey Shaw Shield – was won by Knox Grammar School (with 17 out of 21), ahead of Sydney Boys High School (15) and Ryde Secondary College (14.5). The Junior section (Years 7-9) finished in a tie between Cranbrook School and James Ruse High School, each with 17 out of 21. For full results click HERE. (28 Apr 2008): Inter-Schools Competitions The draw for the Primary Schools Competition is currently being prepared and should become available progressively over the next few days – click on "Schools" (at left), then look under "Primary Schools Competition" and click on "Draw & Results". The draw for three of the four regions in the Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition is now available (Met East, Met North and Met West) – click on "Schools" (at left), then look under "Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition" and click on "Draw & Results". (24 Apr 2008): Autumn Tournaments Fourteen-year-old Adrian Miranda and nine-year-old Andrew Pan tied for first place in the 252-player Autumn One-Day Tournament. Another nine-year-old, Harry Ruan, came third, and his brother Jack, aged 11, was one of nine players who tied for fourth place. The Autumn Two-Day Tournament was contested by 263 players and was won by Jamie Boyce, playing in his last tournament as a junior (he turns 18 soon). It has been a good year for Jamie as he also won the Summer Two-Day Tournament in January. For full results of both Autumn tournaments click on "Results" at left. (18 Feb 2008): International Junior Tournaments Applications are now open for the following international junior tournaments: ▪ ASEAN Age Championships (U8-18, Open and Girls) Subic Bay, the Philippines, June 12-21 (dates to be confirmed) ▪ World Junior Championships (U20, Open and Girls) Ankara, Turkey, August 2-16 ▪ World U16 Olympiad (Open teams) Ankara, Turkey, August 15-24 ▪ World Youth Championships (U8-U18, Open and Girls) Vung Tau, Vietnam, October 19-31 ▪ Asian Youth Championships (U8-U18, Open and Girls) (details to be advised) ▪ Asian Junior Championship (U20, Open and Girls) (details to be advised) For application form and details click on www.australianjuniorchess.org.au. (31 Jan 2008): Zong-Yuan Zhao Becomes Australia's Third Grandmaster Zong-Yuan Zhao has today gained his third GM norm in a strong international tournament in Gibraltar and, as his rating is well over 2500 (the other requirement), he becomes Australia's third grandmaster (after Ian Rogers and Darryl Johansen). Congratulations, Yuan – three GM norms in two months is a fantastic achievement! Many of our older members would have played Yuan in junior tournaments as it is only a few years since he left junior ranks – and of course some of our older and younger members would have played him more recently in adult events. Yuan is an enthusiastic supporter of the NSWJCL, as a contributor to our magazine and a coach of our Advanced Training Squad. (26 Jan 2008): Australian Junior Championships 2008 The 2008 Australian Junior Championships have concluded successfully. The highlight for NSW was Deborah Ng's win of the Australian Girls title. The Australian Junior title was won by Junta Ikeda of ACT, with a score of 10.5/11, two points ahead of his nearest rivals. Junta thereby completed a hat trick, having also won the Australian Junior Rapidplay and Australian Junior Lightning titles. For full details, including scores and games, see the "Australian Junior Championships" link in the top right-hand corner of this page. (10 Jan 2008): Summer Two-Day Tournament 2008 Jamie Boyce made a clean sweep of the Summer Two-Day Tournament, winning all eleven games and finishing a full two points ahead of his nearest rivals, Garry Mann and Clive Ng. Eight-year-old Sean Gu excelled again, coming equal fourth with Hayden Van Rys. For full scores see "Results" at left. (6 Jan 2008): Second GM Norm for Zong-Yuan Zhao Zong-Yuan Zhao's many friends and fans across Australia will be delighted to hear that he has gained his second Grandmaster norm by winning a strong tournament in Spain. He needs only one more GM norm to be awarded the GM title as he has already satisfied the other requirement - a rating of over 2500. Yuan acquired his first GM norm only last month (see below, 11 Dec). He is about to start playing in an international tournament in Seville and after that will compete in the Gibraltar Open. These tournaments will provide two opportunities for Yuan to gain his third norm and the coveted GM title. (4 Jan 2008): Summer One-Day Tournament 2008 Our Summer One-Day Tournament, contested by 191 players, produced a quintuple tie for first place, between Edward Naoumov, Alexander Papp, Derek Trang, Hayden Van Rys and Sean Gu. (Sean Gu is only eight years old!) For full scores see "Results" at left.