Matthew Clarke wins playoff for Under 18 Title

Lachlan Peers wins Under 12 Title

Matthew Clarke of Newcastle and Vincent Qiang of Wollongong, both aged 13, tied for first place in the NSW Country Junior Championship (Under 18). They each scored 4.5 out of 5. A playoff was held 10 days later and was won by Matthew with a score of 2-0.

The Under 12 Championship was won by Lachlan Peers from the Central Coast with a score of 9 out of 10.

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

The four teams representing NSW performed creditably in the Australian Schools Teams Championships, held in Perth on 3-4 December. The best result was by James Ruse Agricultural High School, which finished second in the Secondary Open Division with 13.5 points out of 20. Rowan Willathgamuwa and Raymond Li won board prizes with 4/5 on Boards 2 and 3. Abbotsleigh came equal second in the Secondary Girls Division with 14 out of 20. In the Primary Open Division Emanuel School came fourth with 10 out of 20 and in the Primary Girls Division Lindfield Public School came fifth with 5.5 out of 20. Jannah Mallari shared the Primary Girls Board 1 prize with 4.5/5.

Full details are available via the Australian Junior Chess League website (www.australianjuniorchess.org.au/astc/2016-astc/).

This year's series of Primary Schools One-Day Tournaments consisted of 29 district tournaments plus finals. Fifty schools took part in the NSW finals, including  schools from country areas such as Albury, the Central Coast, Deniliquin, Millthorpe, Orange, Port Macquarie, Timbumburi (near Tamworth), Wagga Wagga and Wollongong. Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory won the finals, three points ahead of last year's winner, Ironbark Ridge Public School.

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 Metropolitan final Emanuel School defeated last year's champions Ironbark Ridge Public School while in the the Country final Westport Public School defeated Millthorpe Public School. Westport then played the Metropolitan champions, Emanuel, for the NSW Primary Schools title and in this match Emanuel was victorious. Congratulations to Emanuel 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".

Emanuel School will represent NSW in the Primary Open Division of the Australian Schools Teams Championships to be held in Perth on 3-4 December. Lindfield Public School won a selection playoff to represent NSW in the Primary Girls Division.

Mullumbimby High School from North Coast Region has won this year's Country Secondary Schools Competition in a close and exciting finish, half a point ahead of Smiths Hill High School (South Coast Region). Third was Newcastle Grammar School (Hunter Region).

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

Raphael Chang, a relatively new player in our tournaments although with considerable experience overseas, has won this year's City of Sydney Junior Championship, half a point ahead of Luke Watson, Brendan Xu and Henry Chen.

The Under 15 Championship was won by Matthew Clarke – not surprising after his impressive second place in the recent NSW Junior Championship. He finished half a point ahead of Gordon Yang.

Another newcomer to our tournaments, Marco Zheng, made an outstanding debut in the Under 12 Championship, winning by half a point from veteran Ryan Lane.

The three divisions attracted 98 players, ten more than last year.

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

Linus Cooper, Michael Gong, Cameron McGowan and Peter Boylan jointly win Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament
Linus Cooper wins Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament

Mathew Jenik and Oliver Drew win the Orange Spring Under 18 and Under 12 Tournaments

Micah Maddern wins the Western Riverina Spring Tournament

Four players, Linus Cooper, Michael Gong, Cameron McGowan and Peter Boylan, tied for first place in the Sydney Spring One-Day Tournament, each scoring 7.5/9.

Linus Cooper also featured at the top of the Sydney Spring Two-Day Tournament, this time securing first place by himself with a score of 8.5/10.

The Orange Spring Tournament's two divisions, Under 18 and Under 12, were both won by newcomers, Mathew Jenik and Oliver Drew respectively.

The Maddern family extended the domination it has held on the Western Riverina tournaments for several years, this time with the youngest brother Micah claiming first place by an impressive margin of one and a half points.

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

One spring tournament remains – the Wollongong Spring Tournament on 6 November (see "Coming Events" in the menu at left).

The NSW Girls (Under 18) Championship has been won by Fiona Shen, thereby retaining the title she won last year. She scored 6/7, half a point ahead of 2014 co-champion Kashish Christian..

The Under 12 Championship was won by the Celina Wu with a perfect score of 9/9.

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

The 2016 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 Grammar School
Intermediate Grade (Years 9-10):  James Ruse Agricultural High School
Junior Grade (Years 7-8): Knox Grammar School

The competition attracted 283 teams from 76 schools. These were divided into four regions and then into divisions of approximately 8 teams. Division winners qualified for knock-out region finals, the winners of which progressed to the competition (inter-region) finals in each grade. For full details click on "Schools" in the menu at left.

As the competition is in three separate school-year-based grades and does not produce an overall secondary schools winner (with players from any secondary year) a separate selection playoff was held to determine the Secondary Open team to represent NSW in the Australian Schools Teams Competition to be held in Perth in December: A selection playoff was not necessary to determine the Secondary Girls team as only one school nominated. The Secondary teams to represent NSW are:

Secondary Open:   James Ruse Agricultural High School
Secondary Girls:   Abbotsleigh

North Sydney Boys High and James Ruse Agricultural High tied for first place in the Open Division of this year's Secondary Schools One-Day Tournament. They finished four points ahead of the third-placed team, Marist Eastwood A.

A playoff held the following day resulted in a tie and first place and the Terrey Shaw Shield were then awarded to North Sydney Boys High on tie-break (from the original tournament).

Sydney Grammar won the Junior Division (Years 7-9) two points ahead of Sydney Boys High.

A total of 50 teams from 23 schools participated, one more team than last year. These included a team from Mulwaree High School near Goulburn.

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

Kevin Willathgamuwa wins Under 18 title

Sterling Bayaca wins Under 18 Reserves Tournament
Winston Zhao Chen wins Under 12 title

Twelve-year-old Kevin Willathgamuwa has won the 2016 NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship with a score of 7 out of 9 (five wins and four draws). Second was 13-year-old Matthew Clarke of Newcastle.

The Under 18 Reserves Tournament was won convincingly by Sterling Bayaca with 8 out of 10, one and a half points ahead of Michael Gong.

Winston Zhao Chen won the Under 12 title with 8.5 out of 10, just ahead of Junyoung Jeong.

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

Ryan Lane wins Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament
Peter Boylan wins Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament
Nikhil Rajesh wins Orange Winter One-Day Tournament
Titus Maddern wins Western Riverina Winter One-Day Tournament

Eleven-year-old Ryan Lane has won the 169-player Sydney Winter One-Day Tournament with a score of 8 out of 9, defeating the previous leader, Peter Boylan, in their dramatic last round encounter. Peter shared second place with Jared Cheung and Sterling Bayaca.

Peter Boylan made sure of the Sydney Winter Two-Day Tournament by scoring 10 out of 11, which gave him a large winning margin of one and a half points. Second in the 129-player event was Cameron McGowan, followed by an eight-way tie for third place.

Nikhil Rajesh has won the Orange Winter Tournament with a "picket fence" score of 8 out of 8, finishing one and a half points ahead of the Autumn winner Kerwin Ma.

Titus Maddern has added to the impressive tally of his family's tournament wins by claiming victory in the Western Rivrerina Winter Tournament with a round to spare. Second was Joshua Everingham, with Titus's brother Gill in third place.

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

The NSWJCL is holding a showcase event at Westfield Chatswood on Saturday and Sunday 25-26 June.

Come and join us – you can watch some of the brightest and fastest NSW juniors playing Blitz (five minutes per player per game) in the Westfield Chess Challenge, or you can participate in games yourself, learn from chess coaches, test yourself with puzzles, etc. All are welcome – even those too young to play (for them there will be face painting and a colouring-in station – with a chess theme of course!).

There's no need to book – just turn up! For details chick HERE.

Listen to NSWJCL President Brett Marsh talking about this event with Radio 2RRR's Lia Crawley – click on INTERVIEW.

Juniors excel in NSW Open

The NSW Open Championship, held over the Queen's Birthday Weekend attracted many juniors and several of these achieved outstanding results.

Anton Smirnov (aged 15) shared third place with 5.5/7, half a point behind GMs Zong-Yuan Zhao and Max Illingworth.

In the Minor Tournament (for players with ACF ratings under 1600) Michael Gong (aged 12) was the co-winner with 6/7, while Gordon Yang and Sterling Bayaca (both 14) shared in a three-way tie for third place.

Full scores will be available on the NSWCA website shortly.

Gordon Yang, Cedric Koh and Nam Phu tie for first in Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament
Kevin Willathgamuwa wins Sydney Autumn Two-Tournament
Kerwin Ma wins Orange Autumn Tournament
Vincent Qiang wins Wollongong Autumn Tournament

The Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament attracted 188 players, the highest number since we moved to our current venue at North Ryde. Three players – Gordon Yang, Cedric Koh and Nam Phu – tied for first place with 7 out of 8.

Twelve-year-old Kevin Willathgamuwa has won the 158-player Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament with a score of 10 out of 11, a full point ahead of Peter Boylan.

Eleven-year-old Kerwin Ma has won the Orange Autumn Tournament with 8 out of 9.

Vincent Qiang has repeated his summer success by winning the Wollongong Autumn Tournament, again with a clean score.

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

The draws for all four regions of the Metropolitan Secondary Schools Competition are now available - click on "Schools" in the menu at left.

The draws for the metropolitan regions and most country regions of the Primary Schools Competition are now available. The draws for the remaining country regions will follow soon.

The year has started well with 71 players participating in the Sydney Summer Three-Day Tournament, nearly 25% more than last year. From a closely fought finish three players emerged as joint winners – David Marsh, Gordon Yang and George Bai. Half a point behind was Sterling Bayaca in fourth place.

Linus Cooper has won the Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament with a score of 8 out of 9, half a point ahead of Anthony Fikh and Gordon Yang.

Linus Cooper also featured in the Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament, sharing first place with Joshua Behar. They scored 11 out of 12 and finished one and a half points ahead of Cameron McGowan in third place.

The Orange Summer One-Day Tournament has been won by Harry Franks, who scored 8.5 out of 9, half a point ahead of James Joseph.

The Maddern brothers have consolidated their stranglehold on the Western Riverina tournaments. This time (Summer) it was Gil who came first – his previous win was in Spring 2014, but his younger brother Titus (who came equal second) has won the other five tournaments held since the beginning of 2014. The tournament attracted 45 participants, 11 more than last year's Summer tournament.

Vincent Qiang won the Wollongong Summer Tournament with a clean score and a one-and-a-half-point margin.

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

The full list of title winners for the subsidiary events (Lightning and Problem Solving) is now available. The following NSW players have won titles:

     Lightning Open Under 14 – Kevin Willathgamuwa
     Lightning Girls Under 14 – Eva Ge
     Lightning Girls Under 12 – Katherine Pan
     Lightning Open Under 8 – Katherine Pan

     Problem Solving Girls Under 16 – Alysha Chin

     Problem Solving Open Under 14 – Kevin Willathgamuwa

     Problem Solving Girls Under 10 – Jasmine Lane

Special congratulations go to Katherine Pan for winning three titles – Girls Under 8 in the main event (see below) as well as the two Lightning titles listed above).

For full details see the Australian Junior Championships link (at top right).

The 2016 Australian Junior Championships have concluded in Adelaide with three of the twelve titles in the main events going to NSW players:

     Girls Under 14 – Eva Ge (after a playoff)
     Girls Under 8 – Katherine Pan
     Open Under 8 – Sayum Rupasinghe (after a playoff with Katherine Pan)

Of the 267 players who took part 64 were from NSW.

Both Under 18 titles went to Victorians – Ari Dale is the Australian Junior Champion and Zhi Lin Guo is the Australian Girls Champion. Both won convincingly with clean scores (9/9)

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

The Australian Junior Problem Solving Championships have been held as part of the Australian Junior Chess Championships (AJCC) since 2007, and for many players this has been an introduction to the art of composed problems and studies, which have given pleasure to countless chess players for hundreds of years. This year a new event is being inaugurated – the Australian Junior Problem Composing Competition – for those players who want to compose problems for others to solve. It is open to anyone, not just those who will be attending the AJCC in Adelaide.

The paper and full instructions are available on the AJCC website (www.ajcc.org.au) under "Guided Problem Composing". There is no entry fee. You can work on the paper at home and send your answers by email on or before the entry closing date, 7 February 2016.