On 13 January we took a large party to the Australian Junior Championships in Canberra. Our group comprised one organiser, four coaches, 25 players and 11 parents. In addition, 11 players came in for coaching each day.

The organisers led by Libby Smith did an excellent job in promoting the event, with a record entry of 212. The organisers also made it a lot of fun for the kids with lots of daily prizes to give away. The arbiters Charles Zworestine and Roland Eime helped the kids' enjoyment of the event by creating a relaxed environment, and by reciting the serious/humorous daily rendition from the 'book of FIDE'.

The highlights for the group were as follows:

Gene Nakauchi (right) is the Australian Junior Under 12 Champion, Australian Junior Lightning Under 12 Champion and Australian Junior Rapid Play Under 12 Champion. This was a fantastic effort by Gene, especially after his shock loss in round one to fellow Gold Coaster Sabin Karibasic. Who knows how strong Gene might become!

Molly McGarity is the Australian Girls Under 14 Champion.

Alexandra Jule is the Australian Girls Rapid Play Champion (Under 18).

Jessica Kinder won the Australian Girls Under 16 Rapid Champs.

Abbie Kanagarajah won the Australian Girls Under 12 Rapid Champs.

Leteisha Simmonds won the Australian Girls Under 12 Lightning Champs.

Alex Stahnke won the Australian Under 12 Problem Solving Competition.

Placegetters in all sections:

Jessica Kinder came 2nd in the Australian Girls Under 18s.

Abbie Kanagarajah came 2nd in the Australian Girls Under 12s.

Jonas Muller came 5th in the Australian Junior Under 18 Rapid Champs.

Yitao Lei came 2nd in the Under 18 Australian Lightning Champs.

Alexandra Jule came 2nd in the Under 18 Girls Lightning Champs.

Other Queensland placegetters were:

Ben Lazarus came 3rd in the Australian Open Under 18s. He also came 5th in the Australian Under 18 Problem Solving Competition.

Michael Gearing came 5th in the Australian Open Under 18s.

Jordan Vico won the Australian Under 8 Rapid Champs.

Many, many thanks to Dawn Ford who did all of the cooking, and also acted as team mother, nurse, psychiatrist and almost anything else you can think of.

Also a big thank you to Merci Stahnke who organised all of the fun gifts for our final night presentations and supplied us with these photos. Our coaches IM Peter Froehlich, Kerry Corker, Toshi Kimura and Phachara Wongwichit all put in long hours to give the kids every bit of support they could - thanks guys! Special thanks to Kerry Corker who volunteered to drive the bus to and from Canberra. And also thank you to all the parents who 'mucked in' in any way they could, and in many cases helped with rented cars with transport. We hope you all enjoyed the fortnight.

Due to the unexpected record turnout of 212, the organisers decided to exclude spectators from the cramped playing area. We have sympathy for the organisers in this difficult situation, which nevertheless is rather a nice problem to have.

However, we are writing to the Australian Chess Federation (through the CAQ) recommending that a by-law be added when allocating Australian Championship events specifying spectator facilities to be provided. Parents and organisers spend thousands of dollars taking the kids to these events, and many of these people gain a great deal of enjoyment from watching the games.

Imagine a soccer game with spectators excluded.

Some people are concerned that spectators can influence the play. So can spectators in any other sport, and they get ejected from the stadium. The same applies to chess. A properly designed, roped-off playing area can be very appealing for spectators, sponsors and media. Let's not hear any more talk of banning spectators from chess (except, of course, those found guilty of trying to influence games, distracting behaviour or using mobile phones etc).

Let's keep developing the chess culture in Queensland and try to do even better next year!

Graeme Gardiner

A few more photos -