VJCL Members in Adult Tournaments
At present a talented junior cannot reach the standard required to win a National title by playing chess only against other juniors. The junior chess scene is mainly a social one, an environment of fun, friends and maybe some chess too. For those more dedicated players (or those more pushy parents) the only way to become a top
player is to compete against adults.

Against adults the time control is longer
(2 hours each), players must record their
games (which can be used at a later
stage to find mistakes) and their adult
opponents are far more experienced and
consistent than their rival juniors. It is a
more serious atmosphere in every respect.
..
I am thrilled to see so many junior
players competeing in adult tournaments.
Many are playing regularly in
the evenings at chess clubs such as Box
Hill, Waverley, Mentone, Chess Ideas
and Melbourne.
Occasionally there is a weekend tournament
and juniors compete in these gruelling
events too. The most recent was
the Lidum’ s Cup “in Adelaide. The next
will be the VCA X-Mas Swiss 20th &
21st of December.
Lidum’s Cup – Adelaide
The Lidum’ s Cup is a chess tournament
held in Adelaide in the first weekend in
October. It is usually supported well by
Victorian players as they enjoy a change
of scenery and the challenge of competeing
against Adelaide’s top players.
There are always many Adelaide juniors
playing to gain vital experience,
and this year Melbourne showed that
our juriiors are on the way up. Familiar
names such as Joel McDonald,
Sasha Soloveychik, Ruperto Lugo,
Matthew & James Doidge, Gordon &
Douglas Lindberg, and Richard Lander
travelled across to Adelaide for the
weekend.
It was valuable experience, especially
for the younger ones and I hope to see
more juniors playing in adult weekend
tournaments in the future.
Final Standings
60 players including 16 Victorians
6.0 Tao
5.5 Kagan M, Johansen
5.0 Chapman, Low, Wastell, Dozsa,
Depasquale, Cowley
4.5 Chek, Rutherford, McDonald J,
Cordover, McLean, Balcerek,
Retallick, Oks
4.0 Soloveychik S, Viner, Condon,
Law, Serwan, Fereday, Lindberg
E, Yang, Goldsmith, Tanti
3.5 Hester, Sheldrick, Lauer-Smith,
Lauer-Smith, Lauer-Smith,
Thorn, Saint
3.0 Lai, Anderson, Doidge M,
Moretti, Thiyagarajah, Stefan,
Mendes, Lindberg G, Doidge J,
Gaekwad, Wijeyekoon,
Guthrie, Khoo
2.5 Nguyen,Moran, Franco T, Lugo
R, Lindberg D
2.0 Srdic, Buchalka, Thiyagarajah
Vitols, Stankowicz
1.0 Lander R, Umapathysivam