Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 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 Longest WCC tournament by round count: 2023 Quick March (12 rounds). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know 101 WCC tournaments are catalogued on this site. Did you know Prefers Black (≥50 games as each colour): Jye Giddings, 61% as Black vs 41% as White (19-point edge). Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. 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. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 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 Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne 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 Across all 6,654 rated games at WCC, White wins 48%, Black wins 46%, and 6% end in a draw. Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 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 Longest WCC tournament by round count: 2023 Quick March (12 rounds). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know 101 WCC tournaments are catalogued on this site. Did you know Prefers Black (≥50 games as each colour): Jye Giddings, 61% as Black vs 41% as White (19-point edge). Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. 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. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 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 Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne 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 Across all 6,654 rated games at WCC, White wins 48%, Black wins 46%, and 6% end in a draw.

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Deep Thinkers - Wollongong Chess Club News

7 September 2025 · Illawarra

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

Our new Club Champion!

Well done to Greg Kurrell for winning our Club Classic Championships on 5.5/7

We will have our Club Rapid Championship starting on Tuesday 23rd September. Come join us for a 3 week Rapid.

Other winners of the classic championship include:

Under 1600: Ed Esterbauer 4.5/7

Under 1200 (and UNR): Bob Glasgow 4/7

New Ratings are out!

Ratings were published this past week. There will be a list of your new rating on Tuesday evening. Check out your rating change as your sign up for the Blitz Ladder

Blitz Ladder this Tuesday! One night only.

The Opera Game

Sometime during 1858 Paul Morphy thought he would enjoy a quiet night at the opera. It wasn’t to be - as a famous chess player at the time he was challenged by a few other people who were there to watch the opera and during the break Morphy played the following game against Karl II, Duke of Brunswick and Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues, a French aristocrat. The two opponents discussed the game and jointly decided which move to make in each position. It is said that Morphy beat the two of them before the end of the intermission so that he could enjoy the show.

The game went as follows:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.O-O-O Rd8 which gets us to

Black is in all sorts of trouble with all of their pieces tied up. White has only one piece not in the game, his h1 rook. He finds a way to get that in the game and wins in spectacular style with what is known as Mayet’s Mate.

13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+ Nxb8 17.Rd8# 1-0

White doesn’t need any pieces that are not involved in the checkmate.

Join us on Facebook!

We have a full calendar up on Facebook now. We have also listed it below.

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

Join our Facebook Group if you have anything you’d want to discuss!

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.