Summer of (Australian Chess) Love

Hello, this is my first blog post on Lichess. I want to write about the little known subject of Australian Chess, because that is where I live. So learn about chess in Australia (there's more than just Ian Rogers, who doesn't play anymore anyway) while I learn how to write a blog here!

The (chess) World is so northern hemisphere centric. I was born in the UK and didn't know any better until emigrating to Australia about 20 years ago. So while all my northern hemispheric friends are freezing, I would just like to point out that it's the middle of the summer where I am! And like in the North, Australia is jam packed with chess events over the next 6 weeks.

So while I'm interested in the World Rapid (clothes change) and Blitz Championships, and while a special place in my heart is for the annual Hastings tournament, and of course the great Wijk aan Zee events, what is most important to me is how my friends are doing in their tournaments in Australia. There is a relatively small chess community so a lot of players know each other, but I'm getting older (58 years old) and a lot of new players are coming into the game that I don't know. There is also the fact that I lived for a long time in Melbourne, a city with a population of over 5 million people so got to know a large chess contingent, but I now live in Tasmania, an island to the south of mainland Australia with a total population of only about 500,000 so there are a lot less players here.

Currently, one of Melbourne's biggest clubs, The Canterbury Chess Club, is holding it's annual Summer Swiss. This falls between Christmas and New Year and acts as a good work out before the Australian Championship, or Open, which usually start just after New Year. Australia is a strange country which holds a national Championship every two years, while in the years between it holds an Open Championship. Championships are held in even numbered years, so at the start of 2025, in a few days time, we'll have the Australian Open Championship. This is also being held in Melbourne. Straight after the Open finishes, the Australian Junior Championships start, in Perth. And straight after that, there's a Zonal tournament being held back in Melbourne. As the end of January in Australia we always celebrate a late summer public holiday (Australia Day or Invasion Day depending on your political persuasion), there are usually a bunch of events across the country that final weekend of January.

So to order the events:
Dec 27-Dec 30 2024 Canterbury Summer Swiss: 7 round Swiss Open
Jan 2-Jan11 2025 Australian Open: 9 round Swiss (1800+) 7 round Swiss Minor (-1800)
Jan 13-Jan 23 2025 Australian Junior Ch: U18, U16, U14, U12, U10, U8 and Girls only divisions
Jan 24-Jan 29 2025 Oceania Zonal 3.6: 9 round Swiss

That's a lot of chess and I hope to be following it all closely. Of course, I'll keep an eye on who is caught with their pants down in the wider world of chess as well as soaking up some sunshine here down under.

Thanks :)