A protracted series of playoffs between Michael Pogrebinsky and Luke Marsh for the City of Sydney Under 12 title has concluded in victory for Michael. The first two-game match was drawn 1-1, as was the second, but Michael won the third 1.5-0.5.

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

Paul Russell retains Under 18 Title

Matthew Clarke retains Under 12 Title

Paul Russell of the Central Coast has won the NSW Country Junior (Under 18) title for the third time, his previous wins being in 2011 and 2013. He conceded one game – to Pascal Echermann of Wollongong – but still won by a full point. Second was Thomas Johnston of Queanbeyan.

Matthew Clarke of Charlestown (Hunter District) won the Under 12 Division with a score of 9.5/10, half a point better than his win last year. Daniel Jaeger of Newcastle was second with 8.5.

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

St George Girls High School wins Secondary Girls Division

The highlight (for NSW) of this year's Australian Schools Teams Championships, played  in Adelaide, was St George Girls High School's win of the Secondary Girls Division. The team scored 17/20 and finished ahead of Radford College (ACT) by only half a point. Three members of the team won board prizes:

Board 1 - Shirley Go 3.5/4

Board 2 - Clarise Koh 3.5/4

Board 3 - Theresa Gu 4/4

The NSW results in the four divisions were as follows:

   •  Secondary Open:  Marist College Eastwood  6th (5/20)

   •  Secondary Girls:  St George Girls High School  1st (17/20)

   •  Primary Open:  North Rocks Public School  5th (7.5/20)

   •  Primary Girls:  Summer Hill Public School  5th (9/20)

For full results click HERE.

The Country Districts finals of the Primary Schools One-Day series (for three-player teams) has been won by Wollongong Public School after a playoff with Westport Public School (from Port Macquarie). Millthorpe Public School finished in third place.

The Metropolitan finals, which with the inclusion of three of the top teams from the country finals doubled as the State finals, was contested by 47 teams which qualified from the 31 district tournaments. It was convincingly won by St Ives North Public School with a round to spare. Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory and Knox Grammar Preparatory shared second place.

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

The state-wide Primary Schools Competition (for teams of four players), which commenced in second term, has concluded. 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 NSW final. In the Country Districts final New Lambton South Public School defeated Wollongong Public School. New Lambton South then played the Metropolitan champions, North Rocks Public School  for the State title and in this match North Rocks was victorious. Congratulations to North Rocks and also to the two country teams, New Lambton South and Wollongong, 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's "Draw & Results" and then on "Finals".

North Rocks will now represent NSW in the Primary Open section of the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held on the Gold Coast 6-7 December. Summer Hill Public School won a selection playoff to represent NSW in the Primary Girls section.

Hunter High School of the Performing Arts has won this year's Country Secondary Schools Competition in a dramatic finish, half a point ahead of Macquarie Anglican Grammar School (Dubbo). Smiths Hill High School, which won the competition for four consecutive years, finished not far behind in third place.

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

The 2014 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): Sydney Technical High School
Intermediate Grade (Years 9-10):  Newington College
Junior Grade (Years 7-8): Baulkham Hills High School

The competition attracted 299 teams from 90 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.

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 was held to determine the Secondary Open and Secondary Girls teams to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Competition to be held in Adelaide in December:

Secondary Open:   Marist College Eastwood
Secondary Girls:   St George Girls High School

Eleven Australians, including four from NSW, participated in the World Youth Championships which have just finished in Durban, South Africa. Their results were as follows:

Division	Player (State)	Score	Place
Under 18 Open	Cedric Koh (NSW)	5/11	49/74
Under 18 Girls	Clarise Koh (NSW)	4/11	56/65
Under 16 Open	Tom Maquire (Qld)	4.5/11	68/94
Under16 Girls	Zhi Lin Guo (Vic)	5.5/11	37/84
Under 14 Open	James Kay (Qld)	4/11	84/101
Under 12 Open	Kevin Song (Qld)	5.5/11	55/105
Under 12 Girls	Licia Yao (Vic)	6.5/11	22/80
Under 10 Open	Xander Leibert (NSW)	4.5/11	80/100
Under 10 Girls	Cassandra Lim (Vic)	5.5/11	29/68
Under 8 Open	Christopher Lim (Vic)	6/11	25/64
Under 8 Open	Sebastian Bracks (NSW)	4/11	56/64

Congratulations to all on their excellent results in a tough tournament. Detailed results can be found on www.chess-results.com (country code RSA).

Shucheng (Tony) Zheng has won the City of Sydney Junior (Under 18) title, conceding only one draw (to Thomas Xuan, who came second).

Joshua Behar has won the Under 15 Championship, half a point ahead of Kristine Quek and Linus Cooper.

The Under 12 Championship ended in a tie between  Michael Pogrebinsky and Luke Marsh, who finished half a point ahead of Matthew Clarke and Timothy Leong. Michael and Luke will play off for the title.

Although the Under 18 division had fewer players than last year, the Under 15 and Under 12 had considerably more, growing by 42% and 115% respectively.

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

Eleven-year-old Matthew Clarke has won the Newcastle Spring Tournament with a clean score of 7/7.

The Maddern brothers Gil and Titus have taken the top two places in the Western Riverina Spring Tournament in Griffith in a record field of 64 players.

Linus Cooper and Kerry Lin (ages 13 and 11 respectively) shared first place in the Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament, which attracted 155 players. They finished half a point ahead of six players who tied for third place.

Thomas (Hanwen) Xuan has won the Sydney Two-Day Tournament with a handsome margin of two points ahead of George Bai.

Nikhil Rajesh has won the Orange Spring Under 18 tournament, half a point ahead of Sherjeel Ahmad. The Under 12 tournament was won by James Joseph by a large margin of two points ahead of Ishu Rawat.

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

The NSW Girls (Under 18) Championship resulted in a tie between defending champion Shirley Gu and 14-year-old Kashish Christian. Shirley beat Kashish in their game together but conceded two draws. A playoff will be held for the title.

The Under 12 tournament was won by Anshika Jain with a round to space, although she lost the last round against Jennifer Zhang, who finished in second place.

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

James Ruse Agricultural High School has won this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament and retained the Terrey Shaw Shield, which it won in 2012 and 2013. James Ruse finished one and a half points ahead of Killara High, with Marist College Eastwood another half point behind.

The Junior Division (for players in years 7 to 9) was won by North Sydney Boys High in a close finish with James Ruse.

Forty-four teams participated, representing 22 schools.

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

Fifteen-year-old Cedric Koh has won the NSW Junior title, a full point ahead of Rishi Dutta, Paul Russell and Kerry Lin. Rishi was co-leader with Cedric going into the last round but suffered a surprise loss to Kerry.

Eleven-year-olds Matthew Clarke (from Newcastle) and Noah Gong tied in the Under 12, half a point ahead of Luke Marsh. Matthew and Noah played a two-game match for the title. This was tied (two draws), but Matthew won the second match 2-0.

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

Nikhil Rajesh and Jonathon Harding win Orange Winter Tournament

Thirteen-year-old George Bai has won the Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament, scoring 7.5 out of 8, half a point ahead of Linus Cooper and Kristine Quek.

Another 13-year-old, Raymond Li, has won the Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament, half a point ahead of 17-year-old Jack Rodgers. Raymond was undefeated, conceding only two draws in the 11-round event.

The Orange Winter Tournament has been jointly won by Nikhil Rajesh and Jonathon Harding, who each scored 6.5 out of 8.

For full scores of all tournaments click on "Results" in the main menu at left.

Enter now for the remaining winter tournaments – for details click on "Coming Events" in the menu at left.

Dunnil Yohanes has won the Newcastle Autumn Tournament with 7 out of 8, repeating his victory of last spring. Matthew Clarke, winner of last year's two autumn tournaments, came second.

Thirteen-year-old Titus Maddern has won the Western Riverina Autumn Tournament a point ahead of his older brother Gil. Titus's only loss was to his younger brother Micah, who finished equal third – it was a good day for the Maddern family!

The Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament produced a three-way tie for first place between Nicholas Brown (playing in his last tournament as a junior as he turns 18 in a few days), Thomas Xuan and David Marsh. Jonathon Ginn from Bonnells Bay (near Newcastle) led the field going into the last round, but lost to Thomas and finished in a four-way tie for fourth place. 

Fourteen-year-old Joshua Behar has won the Sydney Autumn Two-Way Tournament with a score of 9.5/11, a full point ahead of 13-year-old Raymond Li. Eight players tied for third place on 8 points.

In the Orange Autumn Tournament Jonathon Harding improved on his two previous equal firsts (Spring 2012 and 2013) by capturing first place on his own.

The Second Newcastle Autumn Tournament, held in May, produced a tie for first place between Daniel Jaeger and Luke Watson with 7/8.

Callum Byrne has won the Wollongong Autumn Tournament on tie-break from Arin Tornyi-Aydin, Hugo Black and Alex Wang, all of whom scored 5/7.

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

Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition: The draws for Met East, Met North and Met West Regions are now available (click on "Schools" in the menu at left). The draw for Met South-West Region will be available soon. The first round will be in Friday 9 May.

Country Secondary Schools Competition: This competition started in March (click on "Schools" for the draw and results).

Primary Schools Competition: The draws are being prepared and will become available progressively over the next week. Please monitor this page and the "Schools" pages. The first round for most zones will be on Friday 9 May.

The long-awaited playoff for the City of Sydney Under 15 title has been won by Fiona Shen. Fiona defeated  Kashish Christian in a close two-game match. Kashish gained positional advantages in both games but Fiona fought back to draw the first and win the second. George Bai, who tied with Fiona and Kashish in the tournament, was unable to take part in the playoff.

Primary Schools Competition: The draws for all metropolitan zones are now available - click on "Schools" in the main menu at left. The draws for country zones will be added progressively over the next few days. Please monitor the "Schools" pages. The competition material (booklets and result cards) will be posted in a few days. The first round for most zones will be on Friday 9 May.

Secondary Schools Competitions: Please see the "Schools" pages.

Matthew Clarke wins the Central Coast Summer Tournament

Peter Dixon wins the Orange Summer Tournament

Titus Maddern wins the Western Riverina Summer Tournament

Jack Rodgers wins the Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament

Victor Lin wins Wollongong Summer Tournament

Bernard Chau has come out of retirement (HSC imposed) to win the Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament. He lost only one of his ten games  – to Linus Cooper, who finished second. Third was Thomas Xuan, who led for much of the tournament but faltered towards the end. Ten-year-old Luke Marsh put in an excellent performance to come fourth.

Ten-year-old Matthew Clarke has won the Central Coast Summer Tournament with a clean score, including a win over seasoned campaigner Paul Russell (NSW Country Junior Champion).

Peter Dixon has added this year's Orange Summer Tournament to his long list of tournament wins in Orange. He won every game and finished two points ahead of the rest of the field.

The Maddern brothers, Titus, Gil and Micah (ages 12, 14 and 9 respectively), finished first, second and equal third in the Western Riverina Summer Tournament in Griffith.

The Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament was a close battle with the lead changing several times. Jack Rodgers ended up on top with 9/11. His only loss was to Edmund Yu, who shared second place with Thomas Xuan.

The Wollongong Summer Tournament produced a tie between 13-year-old Victor Lin and 14-year-old Callum Bryne. Victor was awarded first place on tie-break

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

Anton Smirnov wins Australian Junior (Under 18) title

Shirley Gu wins Australian Girls (Under 18) title

Rishi Dutta wins Australian Under 14 Open title

Kerry Lin wins Australian Under 12 Open title

NSW players captured four of the main titles at this year's Australian Junior Championships, which have just concluded in Sydney. Twelve-year-old Anton Smirnov won the Under 18 Open title with 7.5/9, losing only to Bernard Chau, who finished fourth after a slow start. Pengyu Chen came second, half a point behind Anton. Shirley Gu won the Under 18 Girls title with 8.5/10, one and a half points ahead of her nearest competitor in the combined Under 18 and Under 16 field. Kristine Quek came third (second Under 16). Eleven-year-old Rowan Willathgamuwa was second on tie-break in the Under Open 16 and Rishi Dutta won the Under 14 Open title with 8/9. Theresa Gu tied for first in the combined Under 14 and Under 12 Girls but finished second in the playoff. Fiona Shen came third. Kerry Lin and Kevin Shen shared in a three-way tie for first in the Under 12 Open; Kerry won the title in a playoff while Kevin was awarded third place on tie-break. Sebastian Bracks tied for first place in the Under 8 Open but finished second in the playoff. Jasmine Lane came third in the Under 8 Girls (in a combined Under 10 and Under 8 tournament).

Three of the Lightning Championship titles were won by NSW players – Andrew Pan (Under 16 Open), Linus Cooper (Under 14 Open) and Kevin Willathgamuwa (Under 12 Open). Four NSW players won titles in the Problem Solving Championships – Linus Cooper (Under 18 Open), Kevin Willathgamuwa (Under 14 Open), Yifu Wu (Under 12 Open) and Sebastian Wei (Under 8 Open).

The Championships attracted 262 players in the main tournaments (plus others in the subsidiary events – Lightning and Problem Solving).

For full details, including games and the Problem Solving questions and answers, click on the link at top right or go directly to the event's website, www.ajcc.org.au.