The Ballarat Chess Club hosted the 2016 Fletcher-Morrow Shield Match against Geelong at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute, 117 Sturt St, Ballarat on Sunday, 14th August, 2016.
The Home Team (Ballarat) played White on the odd numbered boards, with the visitors managing to secure a 6-4 victory.
Individual and Club results are shown below:
| Board | White | Black | Result | Club | ||
| 1 | James WATSON | 1821 | Binh NGUYEN | 1900 | 0-1 | G |
| 2 | Michael SUGRUE | 1867 | Bas VAN RIEL | 1880 | 1-0 | G |
| 3 | Rodney JACOBS | 1659 | Geoffrey GILL | 1790 | 0-1 | G |
| 4 | Zoran BABIC | 1751 | Patrick COOK | 1633 | 0-1 | B |
| 5 | Kevin PERRIN | 1606 | Reza DANESHVAR | 1743 | 0-1 | G |
| 6 | Geoff BARBER | 1635 | Rob LOVEBAND | 1571 | 1-0 | G |
| 7 | Robert BAILEY | 1515 | Owen COURTIS | 1634 | ½ | ½ |
| 8 | Mio RISTIC | 1551 | Michael TAUSZ | 1491 | ½ | ½ |
| 9 | Jamie BROTHERIDGE | 1554 | Geoff DAVIS | 1458 | 1-0 | B |
| 10 | Nick MCCLAREN | 1350 | James EYRE | 1262 | 0-1 | B |
| Reserve | Cassandra BARNETT | 1097 | Jack SMITH | 1250 | ½ | – |
The early signs were ominous, with Geelong blitzing the top three boards in an average of only 18 moves per game. But with typical resilience and depth of talent, Ballarat bounced back to take four of the next six points. The overall result was still in dispute until the end of the very last game, with Geoff Barber finally prevailing in a slashing tactical battle against Rob Loveband.
A PGN file of all games played may be downloaded, there is also excellent coverage of results, including annotated games, at the Ballarat Chess Club web site.
It was a great day of chess, with the Ballarat Chess Club offering both friendly hospitality and spirited opposition. Rest assured, they will be looking to even the ledger in 2017!
Geelong Chess Club 