2025 Perth Junior Chess League

The first event of the 2025 Perth Junior Chess League was held Sunday 16th February at Perth Modern School and attracted 28 participants.

The event was split into 2 sections: Advanced/Intermediate and Novice. Each player played 7 games with a time control of 12 min plus 3 sec increment.

The Advanced/Intermediate section got off to a crazy start with many surprise results, starting in round 1 when Shijirgun Nyamdari won against Quang Minh Le in a very tense endgame. In round 2 Vivek Chandna held Albert Chen to a draw, Luke Meerkotter held Logan Absolom to a draw and Shijirgun Nyamdari held Uudamkhishig Togtmol to a draw. The surprises continued in round 3 with Shijirgun Nyamdari winning against Vivek Chandna, Uranbaigali Uuganbaatar winning against Jacob Yao and Walter Wang scoring a win against Shijirkhutag Nyamdari. From that point forward, the results more or less fell in line with the players ratings with the notable exception of Shijirkhutag Nyamdari scoring a win against Vivek Chandna in round 6.

After the dust had settled, Albert Chen stood victorious having finished undefeated on a score of 6 points. Second place went to Quang Minh Le with a score of 5.5 points and Shawn Boby secured 3rd place with a score of 5.

The intermediate first place trophy went to Walter Wang who had a fantastic tournament, scoring 4 points and finishing ahead of many higher rated opponents. The second place medals went to Shijirgun Nyamdari and Shijirkhutag Nyamdari who both ended on 3.5 points. Uranbaigali Uuganbaatar and Khatangua Nyamdari both were awarded third place, each of them scoring 3 points.

The Novice section was just as crazy as the Advanced/Intermediate section. It was almost impossible to predict the results of most games as they swung back and forth.

However two players were very consistent throughout the day and ended up in outright first and second. Neo Kelly was undefeated and won the event outright with a score of 6.5 points. One of his wins was particularly impressive: he created a smothered checkmate with his knight by using his Queen to pin an enemy defensive pawn and his Bishop to take way the King's only escape square. Second place went David Li, scoring 6 points, only losing one game, to Neo. David's wins this tournament were very convincing, showing no weaknesses. Both Neo and David gained a lot of rating points during this event and both will likely have to play in the higher division in future events.

Third place was a very tight contest between two players: Sofia Nguyen and Oliver Law. Their big battle occurred in the final round with Oliver winning their very long and extremely tense game. Oliver was awarded third place with a score of 5 points, with Sofia taking fourth place on a score of 4 points.

The following prizes were awarded:

1st place in the Open Division: Albert Chen - received a trophy.

2nd place in the Open Division: Quang Minh Le - received a medal.

3rd place in the Open Division: Shawn Boby - received a medal.

1st place in the Intermediate Division: Walter Wang - received a trophy.

=2nd place in the Intermediate Division: Shijirgun Nyamdari - received a medal.

=2nd place in the Intermediate Division: Shijirkhutag Nyamdari - received a medal.

=3rd place in the Intermediate Division: Uranbaigali Uuganbaatar - received a medal.

=3rd place in the Intermediate Division: Khatangua Nyamdari - received a medal.

1st place in the Novice Division: Neo Kelly - received a trophy.

2nd place in the Novice Division: David Li - received a medal.

3rd place in the Novice Division: Oliver Law - received a medal.

Congratulations to all the prize winners!