2026 Norths 2026 Club Championship T2 Rounds 8-9
Open SwissStandard
20 players participated in this 9-round tournament, held from 14 Apr 2026 to 21 Apr 2026 in Sydney, Australia. 3 titled players. Top 10 Elo average was 1788, and top seed was James Kay (🇦🇺 AUS, 1871).
Ian Welch (🇦🇺 AUS, 1775) won with 2.0/9, ahead of Linda (Zhiling) Qian (1.5) and James Kay (1.5). Welch shared the lead from round 8 and broke clear in the final round.
The biggest upset came in round 9: Angela He (1649) beat Stephen J Garner (1814), a +165-point gap.
Location
🇦🇺Sydney, Australia
Dates
14 Apr 2026 → 21 Apr 2026
Time control
Standard: 75 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 9 rounds
Titled players · 3
WCM×3
Federations · 1 represented
🇦🇺Australia×19
Top 3
- 🥇
- 🥈
- 🥉
How it unfolded
Top 6 · 9 roundsIan Welch led from R9; +0.5-point edge over the runner-up. Title race converged from 27 co-leaders at R4 to 1 by R9.
Co-leaders
27
27
27
27
27
27
27
7
1
R9–R9 · LEAD HELD
Ian Welch held the sole lead from R9 through R9 without losing it.
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Ian Welch | * | — | — | — |
| 2WCMLinda (Zhiling) Qian | — | * | — | ½ |
| 3Robert A Watson | — | — | * | — |
| 4James Kay | — | ½ | — | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welch, Ian | 1775 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +15B | +16N | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2543 | +16.0 |
| 2 | Qian, Linda (Zhiling)WCM | 1771 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +9B | =3B | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.75 | 2018 | +22.0 |
| 3 | Kay, James | 1871 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +8B | =2N | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.75 | 1997 | +3.8 |
| 4 | Liu, Max (qixuan) | 1756 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | =12N | +7B | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.25 | 1907 | +16.8 |
| 5 | Watson, Robert A | 1758 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +17N | =13B | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.25 | 1991 | +13.0 |
| 6 | Dingley, Justin | 1702 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +18N | =14B | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.25 | 1905 | +12.2 |
| 7 | Baterowicz, Mark | 1691 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +10B | −4N | 1.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.00 | 1731 | +2.6 |
| 8 | Qian, VickyWCM | 1780 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −3N | +12B | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.50 | 1831 | +3.2 |
| 9 | Glissan, Paul | 1713 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −2N | +15B | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.00 | 1764 | +1.8 |
| 10 | Daniel, Suria | 1709 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −7N | +19N | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 884 | -22.0 |
| 11 | He, Angela | 1649 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | +20N | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2577 | +13.2 |
| 12 | Ban, Thomas | 1762 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | =4B | −8N | 0.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.75 | 1581 | -16.8 |
| 13 | Tay, Mason | 1745 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | =5N | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.75 | 1744 | -5.4 |
| 14 | Thuaux, Alexander | 1814 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | =6N | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.75 | 1671 | -8.3 |
| 15 | Ding, Daniel (yulin) | 1622 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −1N | −9N | 0.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 0.00 | 974 | -34.4 |
| 16 | Jain, Kamal | 1668 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −1B | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.00 | 1017 | -8.6 |
| 17 | Liu, JoyWCM | 1778 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −5B | F | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.00 | 944 | -20.0 |
| 18 | Cheung, Cheuk Laam Bosco | 1650 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −6B | F | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.00 | 871 | -15.2 |
| 19 | FIDE 573001481 | 0 | — | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −?N | −10B | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 906 | 0.0 |
| 20 | Garner, Stephen J | 1814 | AUS | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | −11B | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 860 | -13.2 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
Top rating gainers
- 1Qian, Linda (Zhiling)WCMAUS+22.01.5 pts · #2
- 2Liu, Max (qixuan)AUS+16.81.5 pts · #6
- 3Welch, IanAUS+16.02.0 pts · #1
Top rating losers
- 1Ding, Daniel (yulin)AUS-34.40.0 pts · #17
- 2Daniel, SuriaAUS-22.01.0 pts · #18
- 3Liu, JoyWCMAUS-20.00.0 pts · #14
Biggest upsets
- R9+165 Elo gap