Date: Venue:
Report by Bendigo Team Captain Nigel Barrow
Players in action during the 2026 Bendigo match
The Bendigo team for the 2026 match
A team of nine players representing Bendigo travelled to Ballarat to contest the annual interclub chess match for the Barrow – Van Riel Shield.
Ballarat got off to a great start early, with three quick wins on the lower boards. Jamie Brotheridge outplayed Shawn Choo on Board 9, Vipin Jyani made good use of an extra pawn in a double rook and pawn ending to defeat Stan Lajic on Board 7, while Patrick Moon created some overwhelming attacking threats against Brayden Mertz's king on Board 8.
Bendigo also seemed in trouble on Board 3, with Scott Stewart building up a promising position against Nigel Barrow, but played the attack a little too hastily, allowing a tactic where his opponent’s knight was able to jump into the position and win the exchange. Scott was still able to apply pressure with some dangerous kingside threats, but Nigel was able to defend sufficiently until Scott ran out of tricks and resigned. Ballarat then picked up another point on Board 1 after Ruari Coffey miscalculated and lost a piece to Declan Smith.
Nigel Barrow on Board 3 and Bas on Board 4
On Board 2, Ballarat’s Bas Van Riel renewed his decades‑old rivalry with Peter Frost. These two had clashed on Board 1 for their respective clubs in the Ballarat v Bendigo interclub matches in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before Peter moved to Thailand. Peter happened to be back in Australia in time for the match. The result, perhaps quite fittingly, was an agreed draw.
Bendigo clawed another point back on Board 4, as David Lumsdon had the better endgame (good knight v bad bishop) against strong junior Sam Song. The position simplified into a rook and pawn ending, with Sam resigning in the face of David’s extra pawns.
On Board 5, Ballarat’s Rob Loveband took on recently crowned Bendigo Club Champion, 15‑year‑old Caleb Sing, with Caleb scoring the point for Bendigo after taking advantage of an oversight by his opponent.
The final game to finish saw Ballarat’s Rod Jacobs trying to hold out from two pawns down with a desperate counter against Leigh Healey, but he was soon forced to resign due to tactics against his own king.
This left the teams tied 4.5–4.5, but under the guidelines only the top eight boards count towards the team score, so the final score was 4.5–3.5 to Bendigo to retain the shield.
Ballarat Captain's Report
On Sunday, 17th May 2026, the Bendigo Chess Club team travelled to Ballarat for the 9th annual Barrow - van Riel Shield match against the Ballarat Chess Club team. This year, Bendigo managed to muster 9 players, so an extra board, not counting to the score, was arranged. Bendigo came with a strong line-up, but despite that Ballarat raced to an early 3-0 lead and had high hopes of gaining revenge after Bendigo had won their 1st match last year. But, sadly, it was not to be as the visitors won 4 and drew 1 of the remaining 5 games to score a 4.5-3.5 match victory. The overall score is now 4-2 with 3 ties in favour of Ballarat. Nigel Barrow and Leigh Healey from Bendigo are now the only players to have played in all 9 events.
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