The RJ Shield tournament is the perfect first tournament for junior chess players to come and have some fun playing chess and test out your new skills. The emphasis is very much on enjoying the game, but you will get to meet lots of like-minded players and learn plenty along the way!
The tournament is aimed at junior players of varying levels of experience as well as stretching the top players who are training for State or National Championships. Our expert chess coaches are on hand to help with advice and support for everyone.
It happens online on the last Sunday of every month from 1pm to 5pm (Jan to Oct, with finals Nov).
All Junior Players are welcome to enter their relevant age division - Over 10 or Under 10.
Every child will play 7 games regardless of the result (Clocks set to 12 mins for each player + extra 3 secs per move played). Each game is scored as a win, loss or draw.
Points are accumulated throughout the year and those that reach 18 points will qualify for the RJ Shield Finals!
History
The RJ Shield events are the longest running series of junior chess tournaments in Australia. They were first started by Hilda O'Callaghan in 1994 and known simply as "Novice Tournaments". They were later named after legendary International Master and former Australian Chess Champion, Robert Jamieson.
Robert is still involved with these events; if you start playing in RJ Shields you might just be lucky enough to meet him one day!
Today we run a number of smaller RJ Shield events in various locations - points scored in these events qualify you to the end-of-year finals. You may not believe it, but before 1995 there was only one junior chess tournament each year in Victoria!
Thankfully a lady named Hilda O’Callaghan moved to Melbourne from the progressive city of Perth, where junior tournaments were held on a more regular basis. She organised the first “Novice Tournaments” in Vermont South; but sadly returned to Perth all too soon.
Enter David Cordover, recently crowned Australian Junior Champion and with energy to burn. David’s coach, friend and mentor was International Master Robert Jamieson. In honour of Robert Jamieson’s (too many to mention) achievements the 1996 RJ Shield Novice Tournaments were born.
Now, 20+ years later, we are lucky enough to have Robert Jamieson attending events, inspiring kids and handing out trophies. You never know; if you do well enough you might even win a lesson with the legendary Robert Jamieson!
