Merewether High School from Hunter Region has won this year's Country Secondary Schools Competition. This was the school's fourth victory since the competition started in 1996. In the grand final Merewether High defeated St John's College Woodlawn from North Coast Region. The competition started in first term with 129 teams and was only minimally disrupted by COVID as most schools are by now well used to playing online. Even the finals, which are normally played in Sydney as a round robin between the six region winners, was played online.

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

(20 Oct 2021):

Summer School Holiday Tournaments

Following the relaxation of COVID restrictions we are planning to conduct tournaments in the coming summer school holidays. These will include the deferred 2021 NSW Junior and NSW Girls Championships as well as the usual One- and Two-Day Tournaments. For tentative dates click on "Calendar" in the menu at left. When the dates are confirmed further details, including an entry form, will be provided via the menu's "Coming Events".

Due to uncertainty over state border closures the Chess Association of Western Australia has withdrawn its offer to host the Australian Junior Championships (and Australian Championships) in Perth in January. No other offer has as yet been received.

(26 Aug 2021):

Spring Holiday Events Cancelled

Due to the continuing COVID lockdown all our spring school holiday events have been cancelled. However, the NSW Girls Championships (and the NSW Junior Championships which were postponed from winter) may be held in the summer school holidays, if the COVID restrictions are sufficiently relaxed by then.

(26 June 2021):

Winter Holiday Events in Sydney and the Central Coast Cancelled

Following today's announcement of the COVID lockdown in the Greater Sydney area all our winter school holiday events in Sydney and the Central Coast have been cancelled.

(15 Apr 2021):

Autumn Tournaments 2021

Ryan Lane and Seth Peramunetilleke win Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament
Rhys Johnston wins Orange Autumn One-Day Tournament
Ryan Lane wins Sydney Autumn Two-Day Tournament

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Lane and 14-year-old Seth Peramunetilleke were joint winners of the Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament, a full point ahead of Yifei Hu (aged only 8), Eric Liu (13) and Seth's brother Savin Peramunetilleke (11). The current COVID restrictions limited the number of players that could be accommodated in the venue and entries had to be closed early to avoid exceeding the limit.

Sixteen-year-old Rhys Johnston has won the Orange Autumn Tournament with a clean score, 8 out of 8.

Ryan Lane followed up his joint win of the Sydney Autumn One-Day Tournament with a sole win of the Two-Day Tournament. In clear second place was 11-year-old Savin Peramunetilleke, an excellent result and his best to date.

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

Cameron McGowan retains Under 18 title

Seth Peramunetilleke wins Under 18 Reserves Tournament
Vihaan Anup Kumar wins Under 12 Championship

Seventeen-year-old Cameron McGowan has won the NSW Junior (Under 18) Championship, which was deferred from July 2020 because of COVID. This is his third win in a row, and he is only the second player to become sole winner three times – after Tomek Rej, who won in 2000, 2001 and 2003 (Colin Davis won in 1985, 1986 and 1988 but two of these wins were shared). Cameron scored 7 out of 9 and finished half a point ahead of Ryan Lane, followed by Aidan Odenthal another half-point behind.

The Under 18 Reserves Tournament was won by 13-year-old Seth Peramunetilleke with 8 out of 9, a full point ahead of James Spencer and David Guo.

Nine-year-old Vihaan Anup Kumar has won the Under 12 Championship with 8 out of 10, followed by Benjamin Jiang on 7.5, then Yifei Hu and Savin Peramunetilleke on 7 points.

COVID restrictions limited the number of participants in these tournaments and preference was given to the higher rated players.

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

The 2020 NSW Girls Championships were held in January 2021, having been deferred from October 2020 because of COVID. The Under 18 Championship was won by 17-year-old Eva Ge with a clean score (7 out of 7), a point ahead of 15-year-old Emma Hu.

The Under 12 Championship finished in a tie between nine-year-old Chanya Rupasinghe and eight-year-old Vicky Qian. A two-game playoff was won by Chanya, 1.5-0.5.

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

(16 Jan 2021):

Summer Tournaments 2021

Brendan Anderson wins Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament
Patrick Christie wins Central Coast Summer One-DayTournament
Jason Pan wins Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament

Sixteen-year-old Brendan Anderson has won the Sydney Summer One-Day Tournament with a clean score, 10 out of 10. He was followed by Ryan Lane (also 16 years old) on 8 points, then two much younger players, eight-year-old Yifei Hu and nine-year-old Daniel Wang, who shared third place half a point further behind. The tournament wad restricted to 66 players because of the current COVID restrictions – many more applied but could not be accepted.

The Central Coast Summer One-Day Tournament, held at Mingara, was contested by 50 players (with others missing out because of COVID restrictions). It was won by 16-year-old Patrick Christie, a point ahead of  14-year-old Noyo Akra.

The Sydney Summer Two-Day Tournament was restricted to 60 players (to leave room for the NSW Girls Championships which were held at the same venue). Jason Pan (aged 14) came first with 10.5 out of 12, followed by Ryan Lane with 9.5 points.

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