NSW Junior Chess League

(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 Jun 2008):

School Holidays Activities - July 2008

Our July school holidays activities include a coaching clinic, one-day and two-day fun tournaments and the longer NSW Junior Championships (Under 18 and Under 12). For details click on "Coming Events" in the column to the left. Note that bookings should be made in advance, especially for the coaching clinic.

(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.

Membership of the NSW Junior Chess League (NSWJCL), available to juniors under 18, entitles you to participate in our junior chess tournaments and coaching clinics, and to receive the quarterly magazine JUNIOR CHESS, the League's official journal, which gives details of all our activities, ratings, puzzles, games, tournaments, results, etc. Full members are also entitled to play in NSW Chess Association events. For details see "Membership" in the menu in the left-hand column.