Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 Did you know No quarter given: Steve Ascic and Matthew Sweeney have played 25 times, never a draw. Did you know Marathon night: 158 rated games were played in a single evening at the 2025 Blitz Ladder on 9 September 2025, the club's busiest night at the board. Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). Did you know The Returner, biggest gap between two WCC tournaments by an active regular: Mehmed Ceylan sat out 31 months between the Wollongong 2023 Spring Holiday Rapid and the 2026 April Holiday Rapid. Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know Biggest tournament upset by seed: Edmund Esterbauer entered the 2022 Champs Warmup as the #10 seed and won outright. Did you know In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Biggest final-round flip: at the 2023 Top and Tail Rapid 2, Steve Ascic took a 1-point lead into the last round, lost to Vincent Qiang, and watched the title walk away. Did you know Highest ACF rating ever recorded at a WCC tournament: Jordan Morris at 2204, first at the 2024 Wollongong Blitz Championship. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Did you know Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 Did you know No quarter given: Steve Ascic and Matthew Sweeney have played 25 times, never a draw. Did you know Marathon night: 158 rated games were played in a single evening at the 2025 Blitz Ladder on 9 September 2025, the club's busiest night at the board. Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). Did you know The Returner, biggest gap between two WCC tournaments by an active regular: Mehmed Ceylan sat out 31 months between the Wollongong 2023 Spring Holiday Rapid and the 2026 April Holiday Rapid. Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know Biggest tournament upset by seed: Edmund Esterbauer entered the 2022 Champs Warmup as the #10 seed and won outright. Did you know In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Biggest final-round flip: at the 2023 Top and Tail Rapid 2, Steve Ascic took a 1-point lead into the last round, lost to Vincent Qiang, and watched the title walk away. Did you know Highest ACF rating ever recorded at a WCC tournament: Jordan Morris at 2204, first at the 2024 Wollongong Blitz Championship. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Did you know Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants).

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Deep Thinkers

22 April 2024 · Illawarra

Find out all about what the Wollongong Chess Club is up to.

ANZAC Rapid

Our ANZAC Rapid tournament is right around the corner! A reminder, this is not on ANZAC day, or on our usual Tuesday night. This is on Saturday. We have over 40 players entered including players from Wollongong who have not been to our club before. We have players travelling from as far as Canberra and ratings ranging from 503 to 2383. It will be a great start to our ANZAC tournaments and we hope to have it even stronger next year. As members of our host club, please ensure people feel welcome. Good luck to all of you! If you haven’t yet sign up, please do so.

Current Tournament - Easter Classic

Prizes are as follows:

Overall 1st: $90, 2nd: $70

Under1700 1st:$70 2nd: $45 Under1500 1st $70 2nd: $45

Next Tournaments

Our Tuesday night tournaments continue after the ANZAC Rapid. We are running a rapid event on Tuesday 30th April and Tuesday 7th May. This will hopefully attract those local players who were brought in by our ANZAC Rapid. Following that on Tuesday 14th May we have a blitz tournament. Too fast? Come and watch. This is the most exciting chess to watch.

World Chess News!!

This morning the FIDE Candidates tournament concluded! The winner was 17 year old Gukesh Dommaraju of India. Gukesh D will play for the world championship title later this year against the current world champion, Ding Liren of China. Gukesh D ended on an impressive score of 9/14 holding Hikaru Nakamura to a draw in the final round. Three players placed half a point behind on 8.5/14 including Ian Nepomniachtchi who did not lose a game. He has not lost a game in the Candidate tournaments since 2021 and has played every year since.

Congratulations to Gukesh D and good luck in the world championship match. For full results and to view the games, visit chess.com or click below.

FIDE Candidates on Chess.com