Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 Did you know Longest WCC tournament by round count: 2023 Quick March (12 rounds). Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know No quarter given: Steve Ascic and Matthew Sweeney have played 25 times, never a draw. Did you know Prefers White (≥50 games as each colour): Siyuan Wu, 63% as White vs 42% as Black (22-point edge). Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 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 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake 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 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 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). 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. Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 Did you know Longest WCC tournament by round count: 2023 Quick March (12 rounds). Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know No quarter given: Steve Ascic and Matthew Sweeney have played 25 times, never a draw. Did you know Prefers White (≥50 games as each colour): Siyuan Wu, 63% as White vs 42% as Black (22-point edge). Coming up Blitz Championship 2026 8 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 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake 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 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 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). 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.

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Deep Thinkers - Wollongong Chess Club News

27 October 2025 · Illawarra

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

Round 2 of Graded Spring Classic This Week

5 weeks total.

60 minutes + 30 seconds per move.

1 game per night.

I have attached images with pairings below. The first image is the Round Robin draw for the rest of the tournament. The second image is a provisional Swiss Draw for Round 2.

Pre Chess Club Rapid Ladder

Each week Matthew Sweeney will be arriving at Collegians on Tuesdays at 6pm

to run a Rapid Ladder Tournament before we start our regular tournaments at 7pm. Anyone is welcome to join him. The time control will be 10+0.

Wollongong Chess Club Annual General Meeting (AGM)

We held our AGM last Tuesday. After a vote, Bevan Clouston remains the club president and the committee remains the same with the addition of Jye Giddings.

Rest In Peace Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky

American Grandmaster Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky passed away on the 19th of October 2025 at the age of 29.

He was a chess player, commentator and educator. He tied for first in the preliminary swiss stage of the World Blitz Chess Championship in 2024, but failed to advance to the playoffs on tiebreakers. He commentated the latest World Classical Chess Championship. His educational chess videos on Youtube have been viewed 94 million times and counting.

Hikaru Nakamura and Gotham Chess called him the best online chess coach for club players. Below I have posted an icon you can click which will take you to a series of free Youtube videos he created in which he starts at a rating of 500 and works his way up to a rating of 2400. Along the way he describes mistakes players at that rating make and how they can improve.

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.