Division 1 Update

The last round of the Victorian Championship is a week away, and the top division was able to assemble many of the top players around Melbourne. With so many players, especially juniors, playing at more than one club, the first division saw teams assembled rather than clubs represented. Box Hill Chess Club were perhaps the worst affected by this as all of their incredibly strong juniors opted to play for Darkhorse or Canterbury Juniors. However, the MCC struggled to field their teams with so many of their strong players representing other clubs, and worst of all, Yarra first team disbanded and their players moved to other clubs.

There has been some difficulties with arranging matches. Many of the adult teams prefer a week night for their games, but this is not appropriate for the Canterbury Junior's who virtually have to play at weekends. But that said, most of the games have taken place, despite the heavy schedule in the Victorian chess calendar.

However, there are some games outstanding in this division.

Place Team Played Points Games 1 MCC1 4 12 13 2 Elwood 3 7 8.5 3 NPCC 5 6 9.5 4 Darkhorse 4 6 7.5 5 CJCC 3 4 5.5 6 MCC2 5 3 6.5 7 BHCC 4 3 5.5

Since the last update, their have been some matches played:

Round 3

MCC1-Elwood not played and crucial to the final standings.

Round 4

Elwood-Darkhorse 3-0 (GP 3-1)

Goldenberg-Wallis 1-0

Sandler-Schon 1-0

Sirota-Zelesco 1/2-1/2

Stead-Jo. Tang 1-0

CJCC-MCC1 0-3 (GP 1-3)

Cheng-Rujevic 1-0

Matheson-Morris 0-1

Chan-Jager 0-1

Dale-Penrose 0-1

Round 5

Darkhorse-CJCC I don't have this result

BHCC-MCC2 0-3 (GP 1-3)

Gorka 0-1F

Hacche 1-0F

Raine-Ly 0-1

Liston-Addamo 0-1

Round 6

Elwood-BHCC I don't have this result

CJCC-NPCC I don't have this result

MCC1-Darkhorse Not played yet.

One game in round 7 was played beforehand.

NPCC-MCC1 0-3 (GP 1-3)

Stojic D-Rujevic 0-1

Dragicevic-Morris 0-1

Nemeth-Jager 0-1

Tan-Garner 1-0

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Previous update:

The top division of the Victorian team Championship has had some problems this year. Of the 8 places, there were only 7 teams that wanted to play, and two of them, MCC 2 and Box Hill have both appeared to be struggling to survive at times. Also, with so many players involved in the Victorian Championships and Reserves during August, a number of matches were postponed for that month.

However, the matches are being caught up with, and there are only a couple of games that still remain to be played form previous rounds. The current standings have 3 teams level on 6 points, Noble Park, Darkhorse and Melbourne CC 1. The very strong Elwood team are on 4 points and sit just behind the leaders alongside Canterbury Juniors. The troubled teams of Box Hill and Melbourne CC 2 bring up the rear.

Box Hill had a terrible start when it appeared their team was about to collapse before the event started. But they have rallied excellently and all credit must go to the club and team for this. Box Hill are up to date with their matches and their next game is scheduled for next weekend. There have been some postponed games played:

Round 1 match:

MCC1-BHCC 3-0 (GP 3-1)

Rujevic (2293)-Bourmistrov (2196) 1-0

Morris (2309)-Hacche (2004) ½-½ 

Jager (2209)-Raine (2066) 1-0

Garner (2100)-Narenthran (1905) ½-½  

Round 3 match

Darkhorse-MCC2 3-0 (GP 3-1)

Wallis (2308)-Gorka (2155) 0-1

Zelesco (2038)-Lekkas (1854) 1-0

Tang (1844)-Forfeit 1-0

Lakshman (1558)-Forfeit 1-0

Round 4 was played in August with the following results:

MCC2-NPCC 0-3 (GP 1-3)

Gorka (2155)-Stojic, D (2248) 0-1

Forfeit-Dragicevic (2234) 0-1

Lekkas (1854)-Nemeth (2145) ½-½

Ly (1995)-Tan (2148) ½-½ 

Elwood-Darkhorse

Not played yet

CJCC-MCC1

Not played yet

BHCC - Bye

Round 5 is scheduled for September and there has already been a match played here:

NPCC-Elwood 0-3 (GP 1-3)

Stojic, D (2278)-Goldenberg (2378) ½-½

Dragicevic (2228)-Sandler (2264) 0-1

Nemeth (2107)-Sirota (2171) ½-½

Stojic, S (2018)-Stead (1969) 0-1

So this division appears to be up to date except for the following:

MCC1-Elwood round 3

CJCC-MCC1 round 4