Chess for everyone! Ballarat Chess
Rapid Play #1 Report by Alberto Biju
The 2026 chess calendar opened with the first of three rapid tournaments scheduled for the year. There was a strong turnout of familiar faces returning to action, along with a few new members. The first round of the tournament saw no major upsets, other than Maximus Thekkan picking up a point against Bas van Riel. Round 2 saw Lucas Ware overcome the aggressive top seed, Scott Stewart. The final round of the first night ended with Lucas Ware, Rob Loveband, and Vipin Jyani tied on 3/3. Read more on the Rapid page here...
Chess in 2026 at the BMI
Our first event, a two-week Rapid tournament, will start on the 15th of January with 3 of 6 rounds to be played on the night. This is an unrated event and a great way to warm-up for the year ahead.
The year's Programme can be seen here...
Ballarat Junior Chess Coaching Term 1 2026
We are very pleased to announce that Chess coaching and games sessions for Term 1 of 2026 are back and present the information and registration details on the Junior Club page...
Term 1 Coaching Details
Start Date: Thursday, 5th February
End Date: Thursday, 2nd April
Time: 5:30 pm to 6:45/7:00 pm
Location: Humffray Room, Level 4, Ballarat Mechanics Institute, 117 Sturt Street, Ballarat.
For Enrolment and further information see the BJCC Page.
60th Begonia Open Chess Tournament 2026
Register here for the 2026 Begonia Chess tournament to be held from the 7 - 9 March, 2026.
Chess Coaching 2026
Chess Coaching is available throughout the year. We welcome enrolments at any time from any junior chess player whether they have been part of the program previously or not.
Term Dates:
Updated soon
For info re coaching, junior tournaments, study resources etc.. visit the Ballarat Junior Chess Club pages.
New to Chess?
A great site for learning the basics from a cool video, improving your chess with puzzles, and playing against QWERTY the chess computer, check out ChessKid.com.
How to write down your games - Chess notation made easy here!
Coffee and Chess
There are some chess sets for use at the following cafes... just ask!
Racers on the lake, Frangos and Homeground, both on Sturt.
Chess is also played at Beechworth Bakery and Woowookarung lookout, but you'll need to take your own set.
Bas' Chess Columns
From April 1991 until March 1993, Bas wrote a fortnightly chess column for the Ballarat Courier. Read them here
