Coming up Classic Championship 2026 21 Jul 2026 Did you know Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). 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 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. 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 Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know Highest ACF rating ever recorded at a WCC tournament: Jordan Morris at 2204, first at the 2024 Wollongong Blitz Championship. Did you know Biggest tournament upset by seed: Edmund Esterbauer entered the 2022 Champs Warmup as the #10 seed and won outright. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake 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 In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know Across all 6,654 rated games at WCC, White wins 48%, Black wins 46%, and 6% end in a draw. Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. 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 Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). 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 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know Busiest year at the board: 2023 saw 1822 rated games played at WCC. 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 Blitz Championship 2026 8 Sep 2026 Did you know Highest ACF rating ever recorded at a WCC tournament: Jordan Morris at 2204, first at the 2024 Wollongong Blitz Championship. Did you know Biggest tournament upset by seed: Edmund Esterbauer entered the 2022 Champs Warmup as the #10 seed and won outright. Winner 2026 June Swiss Soutter, Jake 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 In Round 1 at WCC, the lower-rated player has won 13% of decisive games (87 of 649). Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 Did you know Across all 6,654 rated games at WCC, White wins 48%, Black wins 46%, and 6% end in a draw. Did you know Busiest month at WCC: April, 898 rated games played across all years on file. Winner Wollongong Rapid June Planiden, Chayne Did you know WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants).

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Deep Thinkers - Wollongong Chess Club News

21 November 2025 · Illawarra

newsletter

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

Random Opening Night This Week (25/11)

Time Control: 10+5

Number of rounds: 5

1 week

Location: This week we are in the Mublu Room rather than the normal auditorium. The entrance to this room is right next to the entrance to the auditorium on the left hand side.

This week we will be playing 5 rapid games starting from positions set by the committee. These positions come from main line openings. These openings follow general principles, mainly controlling the centre of the board. Below you will find the opening positions and how each opening controls the centre in different ways.

Sicilian Defence

  1. e4 c5

The main idea of the Sicilian defence is to trade black’s c pawn for white’s d pawn. This allows black to have two pawns in the centre while white only has one. However moving the c pawn doesn’t do much for the development of black’s pieces and can therefore lead to white getting a quick attack. If black can defend against this short-term attack they can have a long-term attack.

The Queen’s Gambit

  1. d4 d5
  2. c4

The Queen’s Gambit is similar to the Sicilian Defence. However this time white is challenging black’s d pawn and trying to drag it away from the d5 square so white can have two pawns in the centre. Unlike the Sicilian, this is a gambit. This means that white is giving up a pawn in order to achieve central control. However in most cases white will regain this pawn eventually.

Reversed Sicilian or King’s English

  1. c4 e5

As the name suggests this is a reverse sicilian with white attempting to trade black’s d pawn for their c pawn. Unlike in the Queen’s Gambit, black has played e5 rather than d5 which makes it more difficult for white to play d4.

Ruy Lopez or Spanish

  1. e4 e5
  2. Nf3 Nc6
  3. Bb5

The Ruy Lopez is slightly different to the previous openings shown above. Rather than using a pawn to challenge the centre, white is using their bishop. The knight was moved to c6 to defend the e5 pawn and the bishop comes to b5 to threaten this knight and attempt to win the e5 pawn. Black has many ways to defend the e5 pawn.

Nimzo-Indian Defence

  1. d4 Nf6
  2. c4 e6
  3. Nc3 Bb4

In all the other openings above, both sides had a pawn controlling one of the 4 central squares. In the Nimzo-Indian Defence black uses their pieces rather than pawns to control the centre. Similar to the Ruy Lopez, black threatens the knight on c3 to take away some of white’s central control.

Graded Classic Results

Congratulations to our prize winners:

Round Robin:

1st Martin Hill

2nd Jay Pham

Open:

1st Alan Morrow

2nd Mile Romic

3rd = Peco Petkovski and Marco Quaranta

Under 1500:

1st Siyuan Wu

Under 1300:

Equal 1st John Robeille, Matthew Sweeney and Janez Valencic

Unrated:

1st Harry Townend

Pre Chess Club Rapid Ladder

When: Every Tuesday, 6:00–7:00 pm (games must begin before 6:30)

Time control: 10 minutes + 5 seconds increment

Who runs it: Matthew Sweeney

Cost: Free entry

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Deep Thinkers Newsletter

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