Welcome to the Perth Chess Club

The Perth Chess Club is closed for the holidays, and will re-open on 8 January with the first night of the Allegro Open Tournament. The Calendar for 2025 has now been posted. Note that as well as all five of the classical tournaments being FIDE-rated, several of the shorter time-control events will be FIDE-rated on the Rapid or Blitz lists.

Photos from the trophy presentation for 2024 are now on the Photos page.

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

Cross tables from the Norbert Muller Cup are now on the Tournament page. Winners:

A: Marc Saxon and Ashvin Balavignan (6.0/7)
B: Robert Stortz and Chirag Doshi (5.0/7)
C: Abhinav Verma (5.0/7)
D: Sebastian Gough (6.0/7)

Games from the final round will be available soon.

The Swiss tournaments have now concluded.

Games are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page, along with the cross tables.

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

The Member profiles page now contains a profile of Rob Maris, who was awarded life membership of the club last year.

Cross tables for the Fred Maris Cup are now on the Tournament page.

Winners:

A: Gyula Plaganyi (3.5/5)
B: Noor Rahmani (4.0/5)
C: Gabriele Fokaite and Dylan Gough (3.5/5)
D: Charles Knight (3.5/5)
E: Martin Leech (5.0/5)
F: Grant Porteus (5.0/5)

Update 2024-07-24: Games from the final round are now on the tournament page.

Report from Rob Maris:

The Perth Allegro Championship was an 8-round Swiss played over two Wednesdays with 40 players taking part.

The surprise winner with 6.5/8 was our hard working tournament organiser Dylan Gough. On the second Wednesday he scored wins over Michael Selby, Lennon Kerr and Rob Maris, with a final round draw against Ashvin Balavignan to secure 1st place.

Top junior Ashvin was equal second with Jacob Gibson and Derek Elkington. Jacob achieved equal second by defeating club President Marc Saxon in the last round. Derek finished equal second by winning against impressive Wolfgang in the last round.

It was great to see so many players competing, including some strong new players to the club: Noor Rahmani, Gabriele Fokaite, Nimesh Shamalka. In a pleasant warm atmosphere there were plenty of enjoyable and interesting games played by all.

The cross table is on the Tournament page.

Report from Dylan Gough:

The recently played 2024 Perth Club Championships (10th April – May 22) saw some high-quality chess played across two divisions, an Open Division in a round-robin format for the top 8 players and a Swiss 7-round format for all others.

A great tournament from Victor Spirin saw him emerge as the clear winner in the open group with a flawless score of 7 out of 7. His win ensures that he is crowned the Perth Club Champion for 2024 – Well done Victor.

In second place with a score of 4.5 was Daniel Clarke who played well and got some great results to finish in clear second place – Well done Daniel.

Rounding out the podium was Jacob Gibson with a score of 3.5.

This was a tough field and the quality of chess was high. Well done to all players who turned up week after week to ensure the competition ran smoothly and successfully.

In the Reserves section the tournament outcome literally came down to the last game, where the result from youngsters Daryoush Darani and Eric Deng would decide the title.

In the end it was Daryoush who emerged victorious and who then became the 2024 Perth Club Reserves Club Champion with a score of 6 out of 7.

Eric was second with a fantastic score of 5.5 and rating mover Max Otis came up with the same score 5.5 to share second with Eric. Well done guys for all the great games.

A big thank you to Rob Maris, Marc Saxon, Daniel Clarke and Charles Knight for their support week in, week out and for consistently ensuring the accuracy of the score sheets and their availability to all on the website over the span of the tournament.

And thanks to all the players who played competitive and fair throughout the tournament, turning up every week in good spirits and playing as true sportsmen and women. It has been such a joy organising this tournament with such a great bunch of people.

The next tournament will be the Fred Maris Cup commencing on the 12th of June.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Games are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page, along with the cross tables.

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

(Update 2024-03-29: Round 7 games are now on the Tournament page.)

Report from Rob Maris:

The Mary Thomson Cup was well supported by club players with 48 competing. Tournament organiser Dylan Gough allocated players into really well matched groups and Daniel Clarke arranged for the games to go onto the club website.

Derek Elkington made a successful return to the club after a break since 2021. Even though he was the lowest rated player in the A group, he played strongly to score 4/7; this included a last-round difficult draw against an in-form Jacob Gibson! This draw meant that Jacob finished 2nd on 5 points, just half a point behind 1st placed Rob Maris.

The B group was convincingly won by Ashvin Balavignan on 6/7. Ashvin has also had very impressive results recently at the Perth International Open and the Metro Club Championship, so is well on his way to a rating around 2000! The other junior in the B group was the lowest rated Eric Deng; he finished 2nd on 5 points, with Derek Roebuck only half a point behind.

The C group was the closest scoring group – only 1 and a half points separated 6 players! The other two players were Franz Oswald and Gerard Akers, who both played strongly to share 1st place with 5 and a half points – well ahead of their younger opponents!

In the D group Charles Knight scored 6/7 to triumphantly take 1st place, with Martin Leech and Tristan Weijermars equal 2nd on 4 and a half points. Mark Hagendoorn did well on his return to the club after a long break, scoring 4 points and equal 4th with improving Rafik Nauom.

The E group was a 16-player 7-round swiss. The top-rated player Max Otis has improved a lot recently, so he won the group with a dominant 7/7! Bruce Lanham was the best of the rest, achieving 2nd place on 5 points. Grant Porteus played much better in the later part of the tournament to finish 3rd on 4.5 points; this included a last round victory over an improving Ahmad Dawoud.

Cross tables for all groups are on the Tournament page, along with games for viewing and download (PGN).

The Ratings page has been updated with the March ACF and FIDE ratings. Note that the FIDE rating system has undergone some changes this month, with the 1000-2000 range being compressed to 1400-2000, leading to rating increases for players under 2000. The new FIDE rating floor is 1400.