Welcome to the Perth Chess Club

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.

The Ratings page has been updated with the July FIDE ratings.

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.

The Perth Chess Club is closed for the holidays, and will re-open on 10 January with the first night of the Allegro Open Tournament. The Calendar for 2024 has now been posted. Note that all five classical tournaments will be FIDE-rated.

Report from Dylan Gough:

The last Perth Chess Club tournament of the year has recently concluded. The Norbert Muller Cup was played over 4 divisions (A-D) with A-C being 8-person round-robins and D being an all-in 7-round Swiss.

A total of 43 players entered and some great and exciting chess was played in all divisions. In a couple of cases the final results for placings were not decided until the final games.

Well done to all winners below.

Group A
Finishing 1st was Gyula Plaganyi, who played excellent chess and was consistently producing great results to win with a score of 5 out of 7. Equal 2nd was shared between Marc Saxon and Rob Maris, the latter finishing strongly after a slow start.

Group B
The runaway winner of this division was also the youngest member, Ashvin Balavignan, who nearly clean swept the competition with 5 wins and two draws. One draw was with the highest seed Dylan Gough, and the other was with the eldest member of the group and second place getter, 94-year-old Wolfgang Leonhardt, who finished on a remarkable 5.5. Third place went to a tremendous result from Ashley Michael who finished with 4.

Group C
1st place went to Gerard Akers, whose consistency and resurgent chess has produced great results and a win in this tournament. He was followed closely by Calan Curtis, who finished on a respectable 5 out of 7. Justim Massam finished in 3rd place with 4.5.

Group D
This was a 7-round swiss tournament which produced some interesting upsets and results. It was eventually won by relative club newcomer Rafik Naoum, closely followed by a resurgent Charles Knight, half a point back on 5.5, and a junior who had the tournament of his chess life to date in Sebastian Gough, who finished on 5/7.

Games are available for viewing and download (PGN) on the Tournament page.

A big thank you to all involved in the club this year and me and my family wish you all a great and safe Christmas and a prosperous and successful New Year. I look forward to seeing you all in 2024 for more great chess.

Kindest regards,

Dylan Gough
Perth Chess Club - tournament director

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."

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.