Ballarat Chess Club enjoyed our third visit from Arthur Koelle on Wednesday.

Arthur ready to play Joel

Mr. Arthur Koelle, now 57, was Victorian Junior champion in 1968 at 14, Country Victorian champion in the same year, and Club Champion, also in 1968 as well as 1969. All these achievements are age records to this day! He went on to win the Australian Junior championship in 1971.

The tournament was won by our guest of honour, with a score of 8.5 of 9, only losing half a point to Patrick Cook, the first person to take any points off Arthur in the last three years! The tournament was a 10 minute swiss, with the shorter time controls allowing for 9 rounds and a late but enjoyable night for all. Kevin provided supper and mystery prizes. Joel took out the highly coveted Director of Play Bottle of Red, and as Jamie had left, Rob got the second place Bottle of White which he donated to Patrick for a rainy night. Perhaps next year we could alter the time controls to a Fischer setting with a small increment, such as 8mins + 2 secs, to avoid the 'Skittle Effect' which plagues these events!

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