The
first Ballarat Chess Club was formed
at Brun's Cigar Divan on Monday, 16th June 1856. It
is unknown how long the 1856 club lasted. A number of
chess clubs were founded in Victoria during the 1850's
(Melbourne 1851, 1855 and 1857, Geelong 1855, Beechworth
1857, Ararat 1859) but the constant movements of the
population during the gold rushes mitigated against
the clubs lasting for very long.
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1925 - Ballarat vs Geelong,
Ballarat Mechanics
Institute
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The first Ballarat
Chess Club is no exception and it seems to have
petered out like the others.
It seems likely that
the present club goes back to a meeting at the Ballarat
Mechanics Institute on Tuesday, February 28th, 1865, when
the Ballarat Chess and Draughts Club was founded with 35
members. The meeting was chaired by Mr.Daniel O'Connor who
a few days later was to be elected the first President of
the club.
Events moved fairly
quickly. On Tuesday night the club was formed. On Friday
night at a meeting of the Mechanics Institute Committee
O'Connor introduced a delegation consisting of Messrs. C.Fisher
and W.Marshall which applied for the use of a room at the
Institute two evenings a week.
Ballarat owes its accurate
chess records to Mr.Nathan Spielvogel, who became secretary
in 1893 and who also played interstate competition.
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