The John Holmes Memorial is underway, 13 players have entered this years John Holmes Memorial Championship 7 round swiss. Time Controls 90-40 30-20.

Old friends and rivals gathered this weekend in Bendigo to compete for the title of Victorian Rural Chess Champion. A field of 20 players attended including defending champion Nigel Barrow and 16 times Champion Stewart Booth and as is the way with chess there was no love lost once the battle was joined.

Stewart Booth 5.5-6 made it number 17 and is clearly still the class player of the field. Joe Santevec 4.5-6 finished second tied for first going into the last round after holding Stuart to a draw in round 3 but failing in round 6 to Scott Stewart. Third was shared 4-6 with Scott Stewart and Alistair Anderson. The Reserves title was shared three ways 3.0-6 with Kevin Perrin, Max Mollard and Robert Bailey.

The Ballarat Chess Club accounted for 9 of the combatants. Scott Stewart, Patrick Cook, Charlie Andrews, Kevin Perrin, Mitchel Bailey, Robert Bailey, James Eldridge, John Frangakis and Joel Beggs. Performance prizes of a bottle of wine were awarded to James Eldridge and Joel Beggs, James missed a mate in 3 and the reserves title with the white pieces in a Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav attack. Joel scored an impressive 2.5-6 in his first over the board tournament. Well played Joel!! John Frangakis received the same for a door prize. Fun was had by all.

The race of the Ballarat Chargers has entered the 1400's Mitchel Bailey 1457 leading the way, hot on his heals we have Judd Madden 1433, Robert Bailey 1409, Clint Stewart 1401 rapidly gaining on the other 3 with a massive 106 point jump recording the 11 most improved rating in Australia for the September rating period. Continueing the recent tradition of having a Ballarat Chess Club member amongst Australia's most improved players.

The final games of the Ballarat Club Championship have been played with Kevin Perrin winning against Judd Madden. James Eldridge and Tim Commons played both playoff games on the night, James won the first and the second ended in a draw, therefore James Eldridge becomes the winner of the reserves. Ballarat Club Championship Report

After a night of catchup games for A grade, Scott Stewart needing the full point against Charlie Andrews to force a playoff with Gordon Lindberg fell at the final hurdle when he dropped a full piece and then resigned. So, congratulations goes to Gordon Lindberg, winner of the Ballarat Club Championship 2004 with 11 wins, followed by Scott Stewart (2nd) on 10 and Jing Jia (3rd) on 9½.

While in the B grade Tim Commons needing only a draw to win the reserves outright lost to Darren Young, thus the B grade is tied with Tim Commons and James Eldridge both on 9 and will be decided by a playoff with the best of 2 games. The B grade playoff and a postponed game between Kevin Perrin and Judd Madden are the only games left to be played.

The club Championship are half way and the almost completed games of Gordon Lindberg is the current leader with 12 out his 13 games completed and only dropping 1.5 points. Other possible leaders are Charlie who has dropped 1.5 after 6 completed game, Jing Jia who has dropped 1.5 after 7 games and Scott Stewart who is 1 point down after 7 games. Gordon has set the benchmark with one game to go against Jing Jia. If Gordon wins Charlie and Scott have an uphill climb for Victory!

This year it was held at Box Hill with five Ballarat Club members going down to compete. Clint Stewart, Scott Stewart, Jing Jia, Mitchel Bailey and John Frangakis all thought it was an extremely exciting tournament and very well organised. Mitchel was the only one taking home a shared divisional prize.

Mitchel Bailey 3 rd most improved in Australia !! Jumping 169 points since the last rating period and more than doubling his first rating only a year ago of 600. Talk about being underrated. Jamie Brotheridge got his first rating of a modest 1621. May this personnal victory over shadow his last lost against Gordon Lindberg. Club Player Ratings

“Advantage for white? What Advantage?” Out of the 7 games, white didn’t win one of round 4 in the A grade and one game has been postponed. Is white dead?. We all doubt it. But still, white was far less prepared for the aces up black’s sleeve. The only draw so far was with the Titan’s Patrick Cook and Kevin Perrin who played there 20th Ballarat Championship Tournament battle.

Four draws for round 3 in the A Grade must be the death of chess or maybe not. Early leaders are Robert Bailey, Gordon Lindberg, with the possibility of John Lavery joining them on 2.5-3 after his adjournment. But John made it clear he was going to win the game which will make him the leader on 3-3.

The B Grade has had the top seed Bill Stokie losing both his games so far by an ambitious Tim Commons and a laid back James Eldridge, who are now the current leaders. Darren Young had a disappointing loss against Michael Schreenan after being their pawns up and Ian Rogers was lucky to escape the new to the club Reuben Barnett.

The turn up was as expected with 22 players in the tournament 14 players in the A Grade and 7 players in the B Grade which turned into a double round robin. The first games were played with eagerness for this wide open tournament. "I just went in hacking and slashing" was the words from Pippin the B grade player after he won his first ever tournament game.

Chess players have come far and wide to enter this years Ballarat Club Championship including players from Buninyong, Ballan and Barker's Creek. The A division consists of 14 players in a Round Robin Event with thirteen rounds. 10 players ECO 1600+ have so far entered. Current top seed, the little monster Australian U-12 Junior Champion 2003 Jing Jia is expected to trouble many in what promises to be an exciting event in closely matched field. The B division looks to consist of approximately eight players, It will be a Double Round Robin event of 14 rounds unless numbers swell. Top Seed Tim Commons, and new members Michael Pippin and Ian Rogers.

Office Bearers for this year are: Patrick Cook President "still", Rob Bailey Vice President, John Abson Secretary, Kevin Perrin Treasurer, Scott Stewart Publicity Officer and Tournament Director, John Lavery and Bas Van Riel Comitee Members. New posts are Webmaster and Webmaster Assistant done by Clint Stewart and James Eldridge. The new Design for the web page was adopted and will be up and running before the Ballarat Championship.

John Lavery faced "The dreaded Jamie Brotheridge" for out right win of the tournament. Jamie fought hard and manage to draw the position easily after a blunder by John. There are three games still to be played all players should get them over and done with!

Round Nine needs to be played. With Patrick Cook one of the favorites to win has been knocked out by Robert Bailey. Leaving John Lavery the winner but not with out a catch. His last game against Jamie Brotheridge will decide whether he wins out right.

The Annual General Meeting is on the 29th of April. All contributions, ideas and proposals are welcome. "Come for the debate, come for the laughs and don't forget your pillows".

The tension is rising with the upcoming Ballarat Chess Championship on the 6th of may. This notoriously long event is know to go up to 14 rounds with around twenty or more players. Last year FM Simon Rutherford blitz the field in the A grade but not without some hiccups. John Frangakis won the B Grade with a photo finish with the last game making the winner. This year some disscusion has been drawn to the always Round Robin that to incorporate all players into a 13 round swiss instead of a A & B Grade. All shall be proposed at the AGM 29th of April.

After six rounds the battle line form. Patrick cook not losing after six rounds but coming equal first with John Lavery and Scott Stewart on 4.5. The top three have all played each other which leaves an interesting ending with none of them wanting to lose points. The tournament isn't over and any other the top five still able to steal the first place. 1. Pat Cook 4.5\6 2. John Lavery 4.5\6 3. Scott Stewart 5.5\7 8. Mitchel Bailey 3\5 10. Clint Stewart 4\6.

The Doeberl Cup came and went with over 220 Participants with three Ballarat players traveling to Camberra to play. Bas Van Riel 5-7, Jing Jia 3.5-7, John Frangakis 4-7.

Due to only ten members wanting to play in the Allegro the decision to make it into a Round Robin with 9 rounds was made meaning it will span straight into the social night on the 22 nd and also into the AGM 29th. It is foreseen that there maybe problems but since it is a round robin they should be minimal.

April 1st to the 15th every Thursday. Come one come all to the greatest Allegro in Ballarat. 45 minutes on the clock each, two games a night. So battle your way to victory through six rounds of gruelling mind blasting chess games which will leave you wanting more!.

March 18th to the 25th every Thursday. The quick and the mated are wanted to play in the rapid play. 20 minutes +10 seconds on the clock, three games a night, six rounds over two nights what more could you want.

The tension is rising with the upcoming Ballarat Chess Championship on the 6th of may. This notoriously long event is know to go up to 14 rounds with around twenty or more players. Last year FM Simon Rutherford blitz the field in the A grade but not without some hiccups. John Frangakis won the B Grade with a photo finish with the last game making the winner. This year some disscusion has been drawn to the always Round Robin that to incorporate all players into a 13 round swiss instead of a A & B Grade. All shall be proposed at the AGM 29th of April.

Conducted during the Labour-day long weekend of 6-8th March. The event saw an absolute record-entry (119 players) in the previous year and the organisers of this year's event were very pleased to see 118 players turning up in Ballarat.

Simon Rutherford wins on 7-7 out classing everybody who sat over the board with him with little giant Jing Jia coming second. Other upsets are Mitchel Bailey taking out some unexpected giants of the club.

The 38th Begonia is held March 6th to the 8th during the Labour Day long weekend. With a record turn up of 119 last year we expect it to anther highly competitive tournament.

Also named the pre-begonia this highly competitive tournament has all ways been a great build up to the Begonia and Ballarat Championship.