The Australian Chess Championship is a tournament organised by the Australian Chess Federation and held every two years. The tournament is largely restricted to Australian chess players, although it is common to allow a small number of strong overseas players to compete. The highest-scoring eligible player (frequently the tournament winner) holds the title of Australian Chess Champion until the next tournament is held. The tournament format is normally a restricted Swiss system, and in case of a tie for first place, a playoff match or tournament is conducted.

Since 1971, the Australian Open has been held in the intervening years. This event is open to all players, regardless of nationality, and the winner holds the title of Australian Open Champion.

The Australian Junior Championship and Australian Girls Championship are held annually. The Australian Women's Championship was previously organised as a separate tournament but current regulations award the title of Australian Women's Champion to the highest placed Australian female player in the Australian Open (dependent on a minimum number of female entries).

Australian Champions

Prior to 2008, the tournament usually began in late December (after Christmas) and finished in January. Since 2008, the tournament has usually been held entirely in January. In the table, the year refers to the date the tournament finished.

Year Location Winners 1885 Melbourne Frederick Karl Esling (won one match game before George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip defaulted) 1887 Adelaide Henry Charlick 1888 Melbourne William Crane 1893 Sydney Albert Edward Noble Wallace 1895 Melbourne Albert Edward Noble Wallace 1896 Sydney Albert Edward Noble Wallace 1897(1) Warrnambool William Crane 1897(2) Sydney Julius Leigh Jacobsen 1906 Perth William Samuel Viner 1912 Sydney William Samuel Viner 1913 Bellingen William Samuel Viner 1922 Melbourne Charles Gilbert Marriott Watson 1924 Brisbane William Samuel Viner 1926 Sydney Spencer Crakanthorp 1927 Perth Spencer Crakanthorp 1931 Melbourne Charles Gilbert Marriott Watson 1933 Sydney Gary Koshnitsky 1935 Melbourne C.J.S. Purdy 1937 Perth C.J.S. Purdy 1939 Sydney Gary Koshnitsky 1945 Sydney Lajos Steiner 1947 Adelaide Lajos Steiner 1949 Melbourne C.J.S. Purdy 1951 Brisbane C.J.S. Purdy 1953 Hobart Lajos Steiner 1955 Perth John Purdy 1957 Melbourne Karlis Ozols / Lazare Suchowolski (Suchowolski emigrated to Israel before a playoff could be arranged) 1959 Hobart Lajos Steiner 1960 Adelaide Lucius Endzelins 1963 Perth John Purdy 1965 Hobart Douglas Hamilton 1967 Brisbane Douglas Hamilton 1969 Melbourne Walter Browne 1970 Sydney Alfred Flatow 1972 Melbourne Maxwell Fuller / Trevor Hay (playoff match tied 5–5) 1974 Cooma Robert Murray Jamieson 1976 Sydney Serge Rubanraut 1978 Perth Robert Murray Jamieson 1980 Adelaide Ian Rogers 1982 Melbourne Douglas Hamilton 1984 Sydney Darryl Johansen 1986 Toowoomba Ian Rogers 1988 Gosford Darryl Johansen 1990 Sydney Darryl Johansen 1992 Melbourne Aleksandar Wohl 1994 Melbourne John-Paul Wallace 1996 Sydney Guy West 1998 Melbourne Ian Rogers 2000 Tumbi Umbi Darryl Johansen 2002 Melbourne Darryl Johansen 2004 Adelaide Gary Lane 2006 Brisbane Ian Rogers 2008 Parramatta Stephen Solomon 2010 North Sydney Zong-Yuan Zhao 2012 Geelong Darryl Johansen 2014 Springvale Max Illingworth 2016 Melbourne Bobby Cheng 2018 North Sydney Max Illingworth 2020 Sydney Temur Kuybokarov 2022 Gold Coast Temur Kuybokarov 2024 Adelaide Rishi Sardana 2026 Sydney Yi Liu

Australian Women's Champions

Australian Junior Champions

The Australian Junior Chess Championship is a tournament organised by the Australian Chess Federation and is held every year. It is restricted to junior players under 18 years of age. The Australian Girls Championship is held concurrently.

  • 1949 W. Levick
  • 1951 John Purdy
  • 1952 J. Hortovanyi
  • 1953 Malcolm Broun
  • 1954 D. Robson
  • 1955 J. Hortovanyi
  • 1956 A. Irving
  • 1957 J. Ferguson
  • 1958 D. Rudd
  • 1959 Ron Klinger
  • 1960 Peter Lay
  • 1961 Trevor Hay
  • 1962 N. Alexander
  • 1963 Maxwell Fuller
  • 1964 William Kerr
  • 1965 William Kerr
  • 1966 Mike Woodhams
  • 1967 Arthur Pope
  • 1968 Noel Craske
  • 1969 John Hendry
  • 1970 Alan Sauran
  • 1971 Arthur Koelle
  • 1972 Greg Melrose
  • 1973 Robert Bartnik
  • 1974 William Jordan
  • 1975 David Dick (finished third behind Murray Chandler and Kai Jensen who were ineligible for title because they were New Zealand residents )
  • 1976 Ian Rogers
  • 1977 Darryl Johansen / D. Fardell
  • 1978 Murray Smith
  • 1979 Stephen Kerr
  • 1980 Stephen Solomon (tied with Donald MacFarlane who was ineligible for title because he was a South African resident)
  • 1981 Rey Casse (tied with Jonathan Sarfati who was ineligible for title because he was a New Zealand resident)
  • 1982 Paul Broekhuyse
  • 1983 Konrad Hornung
  • 1984 Peter Evans
  • 1985 Timothy Reilly
  • 1986 Shane Hill
  • 1987 Colin Davis
  • 1988 Lee Jones
  • 1989 Peter Cotton
  • 1990 Nick Speck
  • 1991 Lee Jones
  • 1992 Trevor Tao
  • 1993 John Paul Wallace
  • 1994 Ry Curtis
  • 1995 Charles Pizzato
  • 1996 David Cordover
  • 1997 Max Leskiewicz
  • 1998 Geoff Saw
  • 1999 David Smerdon
  • 2000 Justin Tan
  • 2001 Zong-Yuan Zhao
  • 2002 Kuan-Kuan Tian
  • 2003 Tomek Rej
  • 2004 Denis Bourmistrov
  • 2005 Moulthun Ly
  • 2006 Angela Song
  • 2007 Michael Wei
  • 2008 Junta Ikeda
  • 2009 Cedric Antolis
  • 2010 Bobby Cheng
  • 2011 Bobby Cheng
  • 2012 Alistair Cameron
  • 2013 Gene Nakauchi
  • 2014 Anton Smirnov
  • 2015 Yi Liu
  • 2016 Ari Dale
  • 2017 Ray Yang
  • 2018 David Cannon
  • 2019 Sterling Bayaca
  • 2020 Cameron McGowan
  • 2023 Ruicheng Wang
  • 2024 Anh Quan Nguyen
  • 2025 Rui Gen Teh
  • 2026 Reyaansh Chakrabarty

Australian Girls Champions

  • 1960 Irene Tannenthal
  • 1964 Rosalind Jones
  • 1965 Rosalind Jones
  • 1966 Rosalind Jones
  • 1967 Marilyn Urlick
  • 1968 Nona Monachowec
  • 1969 Nona Monachowec
  • 1970 Linda Maddern
  • 1971 Linda Maddern
  • 1972 Lillian Goldsmith
  • 1973 Irena Duluk
  • 1974 Cathy Innes-Brown
  • 1975 Cathy Innes-Brown / Cathy Depasquale / Karen Hancock
  • 1976 Kate Marshall
  • 1977 Anne Martin
  • 1978 Anne Slavotinek
  • 1979 Anne Slavotinek
  • 1980 Astrid Ketelaar
  • 1981 Jill Clementi
  • 1982 Josie Wright
  • 1983 Trudi Potter
  • 1984 Colleen Lau
  • 1985 Gina Soto-Olivo
  • 1986 Natalie Mills / J. Rees / Blanche Wilkie / Nga Phan
  • 1987 Tam Nguyen
  • 1988 Nancy Jones
  • 1989 Nancy Jones
  • 1990 Gabrielle Grbovac / J. King & Barbara Remenyi / Boglarka Remenyi
  • 1991 Boglarka Remenyi
  • 1992 Jennifer Harrington
  • 1993 Veronica Klimenko / I. Liubomirskaia / Narelle Szuveges
  • 1994 Sulyn Teh
  • 1995 Jasmine Lauer-Smith
  • 1996 Laura Moylan
  • 1997 Elaine Chong
  • 1998 Kylie Coventry
  • 1999 Catherine Lip / Jasmine Lauer-Smith / Shiloh Norris
  • 2000 Catherine Lip
  • 2001 Michelle Lee
  • 2002 Shannon Oliver
  • 2003 Angela Song
  • 2004 Heather Huddleston
  • 2005 Rebecca Harris
  • 2006 Alexandra Jule
  • 2007 Emma Guo
  • 2008 Deborah Ng
  • 2009 Sally Yu
  • 2010 Leteisha Simmonds
  • 2011 Savithri Narenthran
  • 2012 Miranda Webb-Liddle
  • 2013 Nicole Chin
  • 2014 Shirley Gu
  • 2015 Kristine Quek
  • 2016 Zhi Lin Guo
  • 2017 Yifan Eva Wang
  • 2018 Cassandra Lim
  • 2019 Jody Middleton
  • 2020 Lillian Lu
  • 2023 Chloe Fan
  • 2024 Om O'Carroll
  • 2025 Athena-Malar Retnaraja
  • 2026 Isabella Guan

Australian Open

Where players tied for first place and the winner of the Australian Open Champion title on countback is known, the title winner is indicated followed by the players they tied with in brackets.

Australian Grand Prix

From 1989 to 2019 a system was in place with points accumulated in different Australian weekend tournaments. The winners were:

The Grand Prix has not been held since 2019.

See also

External links

Lists

Individual events

Games

  • - archived version