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 Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. 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 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. 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 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 Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 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 WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. 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 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 Drawing-circle tournament: 2023 Summer Classic, 19% of games drawn (11 of 59). Did you know Largest WCC tournament by field size: 2026 January Classic (39 entrants). Winner 2026 Winter WonderBlitz Kumaresan, Aditya Did you know 247 distinct players have appeared in a WCC tournament. 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 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. 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 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 Most decisive WCC tournament: 2025 January Holiday Rapid, 1% of games drawn (1 of 84). Coming up 960 Classic 2026 15 Sep 2026 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 WCC has hosted 6,654 rated tournament games on file. 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 Across all 6,654 rated games at WCC, White wins 48%, Black wins 46%, and 6% end in a draw.

← All newsletters

Deep Thinkers - Wollongong Chess Club News

2 May 2026 · Illawarra

newsletter

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

Graded Classical Tournament Round 3

When: 28th of April 7pm-10pm

Registration: No later than 6:50pm. If you arrive after that you will miss the round. Half point byes are available for two rounds per tournament besides the last two rounds.

Location: Wollongong Collegians Auditorium (3A Charlotte Street)

Cost: $5 each week

Time control: 60+30

Number of rounds: 5 rounds (last round on 19th of May)

Who can play: Anyone who knows the rules of chess. If you don’t know the rules of chess we can teach you.

Players will be graded into two swiss tournaments by rating. This should ensure more competitive games from round 1. You can join the tournament at any round.

Provisional pairings for round 3:

Online Tournaments

Wollongong Chess Club will be organising fortnightly online tournaments on Lichess.

When: 15th of May 7pm-9pm

Registration: No later than 7pm. If you arrive after that you will miss the first round. You cannot join the tournament after round 3.

Cost: Free

Time Control: 8+3

Number of Rounds: 6 rounds. 10 seconds between rounds. If you need to withdraw mid-tournament, click the withdraw button.

How to participate and play:

Step 1: Create a lichess account (click the link below).

Step 2: Join the Wollongong Chess Lichess team. The team joining code is WollongongChess. Once you join the team you can see the upcoming tournaments (click the link below).

Step 3: Click the tournament you want to participate in. When you click the link you will be taken to a tournament lobby. You must then click the join button to be registered as a player. Don’t click join until you are there on the night so you don’t register and forget you joined the tournament.

Online Tournaments Results 1st of May

The return to online tournaments took place on the 1st of May. There was 12 participants and we hope to see more in the future. Congratulations to Vincent on his perfect score of 6/6. Online tournaments are a great opportunity for people to gain tournament experience and build confidence for over the board chess.

Join us on Facebook!

We have a full calendar up on Facebook now. 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!

Deep Thinkers Newsletter

We are looking for games or content you want included in this newsletter. 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.