Welcome to the Perth Chess Club

The Calendar for 2024 has now been posted. Note that all five classical tournaments will be FIDE-rated.

The Ratings page has been updated with the December PCC, ACF, and FIDE ratings.

Photos from the trophy presentation for 2023 are now on the Photos page. As well as the tournament trophies, there is also Rob Maris winning the inaugural Club Spirit Award. From his nomination: "Rob is usually the first to arrive and last to leave each week. He opens up and takes on the biggest role in setting up the tables, chairs and boards; as well as also packing them all away at the end of the night."

Games from the catch-up night of the Norbert Muller Cup are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page.

At a recent club night, Carter Kerr presented a win of his at the Harris-Edwardes interclub tournament; the game is now available to view here.

Report from Dylan Gough:

Perth Chess Club has recently completed its annual Wolfgang Leonhardt and John Brooke Cups for 2023.

Firstly, the Wolfgang Leonhardt cup saw 24 people play 7 rounds of chess with a rating level of 1600 or higher. At the end of the seven rounds the results showed an equal place finish at the top of the leader board by the two highest ranked players in the competition.

Derwent Maggs and Jay Lakner both scored 6 points out of 7 with some brilliant chess playing and were only separated at the end of the tournament by 0.5 tiebreak points, indicating the quality and level both gentlemen played.

In third place CM Gyula Plaganyi finished with a commendable 5 out of 7. Newcomer Michael Selby finished strongly with some great results to finish outright 4th with 4.5 out of 7.

Thank you to all for your commitment and flexibility to make this tournament a success.

In the John Brooke Cup a last game save from Calan Curtis against veteran player Mark Howard, who played such a great game, resulted in a draw after many movers and handed the outright win to Calan with 6 points out of 7.

Very well played by Calan, who played well above his rating to win the division. Second place was shared between Mark Howard, Martin Leech and young Jaswanth Ram Sethuraman who also played above his rating to finish on 5 out of 7.

The John Brooke cup consisted of 29 players and was played over 7 rounds.

Much thanks go to Rob Maris, Daniel Clarke and Marc Saxon for their assistance and support throughout the tournament.

Our next classical tournament will take place on Wednesday 11th of October when players will be competing against other players of similar rating levels in the final classical tournament of the year, the Norbert Muller Cup. I hope to see you there.

Cross tables and games are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page.

The Ratings page has been updated with the October PCC and FIDE ratings.

(Note that FIDE ratings for players who also play at the Metro club have been calculated incorrectly this month, and these ratings may be corrected in future.)

The Ratings page has been updated with the September ACF and FIDE ratings.

The Calendar for the rest of the year has been updated, following the postponement of round 2 of the current tournaments due to the Matildas' World Cup semi-final.

The Perth Chess Club's ACF-Quick-rated Allegro Championship was played earlier this year on 31 May and 7 June; the cross table is now on the Tournament page.

Report from Dylan Gough:

As we enter into the second half of 2023, our club continues to grow both in numbers and in standard. Our tournaments continue to attract a greater number of players and our external events such as the Harris/Edwardes Trophy and Bernard Anton Shield currently place us as the premium adult club in Perth.

This is largely due to the immense amount of hard work that we as a club put into these specialised events. From the players, to the committee, to you the players and all those behind the scenes, the continued success of Perth Chess Club is a welcome testament to you all. Thank you.

Perth Chess Club has recently completed its third major tournament of the year, the prestigious Fred Maris Cup. Forty-four people over 6 closely contested groups played high-quality chess over a number of weeks. Groups A-E were played in round-robin format between 6 players, whilst group F played a fourteen-person swiss tournament over 6 rounds.

Below are the final standings for each group:

Group A:

Group B:

Group C:

Group D:

Group E:

Group F:

Well done to all the winners. Games are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page, along with the cross-tables.

The Perth Chess Club defeated the Metro Chess Club 44-28 in this year's interclub match. A photo of most of the Perth team at the Metro home leg, and some family members, is available on the Photos page.

The Ratings page has been updated with the June PCC, ACF, and FIDE ratings.

(Update 2023-05-29: Games from all rounds are now available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page.)

Report from Dylan Gough:

The 2023 Perth Club Championships have completed for another year and this year saw the greatest turnout ever. The tournament saw a record 54 entrants participate in 7 rounds of high quality chess.

The winner of the tournament literally came down to the last game of the final night on board 1, where newcomer and welcome member Viktor Spirin defeated an in-form Iker Hernandez Mendez to secure first place with a fantastic score of 6 out of 7. A win from Jamie Laubbacher in the last round helped him to leapfrog Iker for second place and Iker secured third place with some impressive chess over all the weeks. Well done to these three guys.

This year for the first time we will be introducing a reserves prize for the best performance of any player 1600 in rating and below. This year that prize goes to Lennon Kerr, one of our youngest players and one of a collection of many fast-improving juniors in today's game. Well played Lennon, keep up the good work.

A tournament like this is never possible without all the work behind the scenes in addition to coming along and playing. Special mention must go to Rob Maris and the crew who help with setup and pack away every week, often being the first to arrive and the last to leave. Also for the diligent team of Daniel Clarke, Dave Barry and others who consistently ensure that the games are PGN'd and placed onto the website for all to enjoy. The Tournament page also shows the cross table.

Thank you and congratulations to everybody for making this tournament a success. See you again next year.

(Update 2023-03-31: The PGN for the final round is now available on the Tournament page.)

Report from Dylan Gough:

Wednesday the 22nd March saw the conclusion of the 2023 Mary Thomson Cup. This year there was a record number of players (54) over six playing groups, all of which were closely contested right down until the last games were played. Below is a list of the final results.

Congratulations to the final six winners:

Group A: Jay Lakner
Group B: Ross List and David Barry
Group C: Dylan Gough
Group D: Ashley Michael
Group E: Kobe Wu and Jean Michel Maujean
Group F: John Brooke

Congratulations to these players having topped their division despite some tough opposition.

Also a thank you and acknowledgement goes out to those members who diligently put together and collated the PGN's every week. These are (as usual) available on the Tournament page, along with the cross tables.