Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 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 Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Prefers Black (≥50 games as each colour): Jye Giddings, 61% as Black vs 41% as White (19-point edge). Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 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. Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Prefers White (≥50 games as each colour): Siyuan Wu, 63% as White vs 42% as Black (22-point edge). 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 Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 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 Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Prefers Black (≥50 games as each colour): Jye Giddings, 61% as Black vs 41% as White (19-point edge). Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 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. Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Prefers White (≥50 games as each colour): Siyuan Wu, 63% as White vs 42% as Black (22-point edge). Did you know Highest ACF rating ever recorded at a WCC tournament: Jordan Morris at 2204, first at the 2024 Wollongong Blitz Championship.

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Deep Thinkers - Wollongong Chess Club News

31 August 2025 · Illawarra

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

Club Championships!

Back to having a single leader. Can Greg hold on against Ed this week to claim the Wollongong Chess Club classic championship?

Famous Game - A walk to remember

This week’s game was played by Nigel Short. Nigel Short is an English player who is still active today. This game is from 1991 and is nicknamed “A Long Walk Off a Short Peer”. It demonstrates how far control of the board can take you and how important the king really is, in both defence and attack!

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 a5 10.a4 dxe5 11.dxe5 Nd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Re1 e6 14.Nd2 Nd5 15.Nf3 Qc5 16.Qe4 Qb4 17.Bc4 Nb6 18.b3 Nxc4 19.bxc4 Re8 20.Rd1 Qc5 21.Qh4 b6 22.Be3 Qc6 23.Bh6 Bh8 24.Rd8 Bb7 25.Rad1 Bg7 26.R8d7 Rf8 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.R1d4 Rae8 gets us to the following position where black has weaknesses on the dark squares. White’s pieces control most of the board but cannot join the attack on the kingside. The d4 rook is looking after the d7 rook and the knight is blocking Qxg2# So what can white use?

29.Qf6+ Kg8 30.h4 h5 first white locks up the kingside and shuts away the king. 31.Kh2 Rc8 32.Kg3 Rce8 33.Kf4 Bc8 34.Kg5 1-0

after that, the king can stroll into help give a simple checkmate where the other pieces cannot help. Black does not have time to get any pieces in to defend.

Don’t give up!!

Remember this puzzle? We have something similar to a back rank checkmate.

1.Rh5 Kg8 2.Rf8+ Kxf8 3.Rh8#

Well done to anyone who found this rook sacrifice for checkmate.

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Follow our Facebook Page for further information on calendars and upcoming events.

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As we resume our DT newsletter we are looking for games or content you want included. If you have had an interesting position in a game, let us know. If there is something you would like to see at the club or in the newsletter, let us know.