On behalf of Chess Victoria, a group of chess club (Ranges and Croydon mostly) members and parents from Victoria will be hosting the Australian Junior 2011 at the Billanook College, Mooroolbark, Melbourne on behalf of the Australian Junior Chess League. This will be the first time the Australian Junior has been held in the state for quite some time, so we are all very excited about the event! This post is just to give some preliminary basic details, all of which are subject to final confirmation; full details will be online on a website established for the event in coming months.

Note that this was announced and some details were distributed last weekend at the Doeberl Cup.

Dates: January 15-23 2011. Note the event will run a maximum of 9 days (and occupying only 1 working week)

Venue: Billanook College, Mooroolbark (www.billanook.vic.edu.au) is located in the gateway to the Yarra Valley of Melbourne. It is located on 15 hectares of natural bushland in a quiet, semi-rural environment. The venue is first class and chess events are run there on a regular basis. The college is 2km from the nearest station and we will be running shuttle buses to there and also to nearby accommodation, depending on demand.

Accommodation: A range of accommodation styles and costs is being negotiated. Stay tuned for more details! There is handy conference centre accommodation and a dozen motels within 20 minutes of the venue, plus a couple of caravan parks and a mediation centre. Those with more up market tastes, well Melbourne IS the capital of suave.

Schedule: This is brand new, not been tried before, but should prove more attractive, especially for visitors, as the younger players event is finished in fewer days. The attached draft schedule may be more useful. But in summary:

• Six championship events, in open and girls divisions
• The event runs for 9 days for the U18/U16 players, 6 days for the U14/U12s and 4 days for the U10/U8 players
• All lightning and problem solving happen on the Tuesday
• There is no rapid tournament
• Those under 10 could play in both the U10/U8 and the U14/U12 events

Organisers: The main organisers are myself, Scott Humphreys, Pearl Yung, NY Wong, Yew Sze Lim supported by Paul Bearup, Jamie Cross and Kerry Lyall and others too numerous to mention at this stage. All of these people bring a wealth of experience to junior chess events.

Social events: We will be aiming to provide various social events for players and parents to make the event as friendly and enjoyable as possible and give parents more options for things to do while the tournament is on.

Official website should be online by around the end of June, or earlier if the stars align properly. But block out your mini-break in Melbourne dates for now.

Contact: me either via this site, or send an email to ajcc2011@gmail.com. We are looking for all offers of support (in any form, sponsors, volunteers, etc) and am happy to consider all suggestions at this stage.

Scott Humphreys, DOP