The Doeberl Cup is an annual

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

tournament held in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia. It has been held every year since 1963 (apart from 2020) and is the longest running weekend chess event in Australia.The Doeberl Cup – History
/ref> Since its inception the event has grown both larger and stronger, and often attracts more players than the

Australian Chess Championship The Australian Chess Championship is a tournament organised by the Australian Chess Federation and held every two years. The tournament is largely restricted to Australian chess players, although it is common to allow a small number of strong overs ...

s. The tournament is held each year over Easter. The tournament runs in 4 sections, with the top section known as the Doeberl Cup Premier. Grandmaster Ian Rogers holds the record for the most wins (either outright or on tie-break) with 12. The Doeberl Cup was named after its primary sponsor, Erich Doeberl, and, after a pause following Doeberl's death, in recent years sponsorship has continued through his daughter Rosemary.

History

Building contractor and chess enthusiast Erich Doeberl was born in Austria but came to Australia in 1955. In 1963, Doeberl’s friend, colleague and fellow chess player Toni Wiedenhofer approached him with the idea of a weekend chess tournament in Canberra offering a prize fund to attract strong interstate players. Doeberl agreed to donate £100 and the tournament was publicised in national magazine Chess World. The inaugural tournament was held that year at the

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. 29 players entered and the prize fund was £100. The seven-round event was won by John Purdy with a perfect score of seven wins, zero draws and zero losses. By 1970, the Doeberl Cup was established as the country’s leading weekend tournament and tournament entries steadily rose. The following decades saw further growth under the continued sponsorship of Erich Doeberl, who was in 1991 awarded a Special Appreciation Award by the

Australian Chess Federation The Australian Chess Federation (ACF) is dedicated to promoting the game of chess in Australia, and is a member of FIDE, the World Chess Federation. The ACF administers its own chess rating system for tournaments in Australia, and runs the AC ...

for his contributions to chess. In 2023, 403 players participated in the tournament, a participation record.

Structure

The tournament is separated into various sections by rating. The highest section, the Doeberl Cup Premier, is open to players with an ACF or

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rating of 1900 or above and is a nine-round tournament played over five days with a 90+30 time control (90 minutes for each player and 30 seconds of increment for each move made).

Winners

*1963 John Purdy *1964

Cecil Purdy C.J.S. (Cecil John Seddon) Purdy (27 March 1906 – 6 November 1979) was an Australian chess player and writer. He was awarded the International Master title in 1951 and the Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess title in 1959. Purdy was the fi ...

*1965 Bill Geus *1966 Bill Geus *1967 John Kellner *1968 Ken Hill *1969 Doug Hamilton *1970

, Terrey Shaw, Fred Flatow *1971 Terrey Shaw *1972 Fred Flatow *1973 Anthony Wiedenhofer *1974 Maxwell Fuller *1975 Maxwell Fuller *1976 Robert Murray Jamieson *1977 Philip Viner *1978 Robert Murray Jamieson *1979 Fred Flatow *1980 Ian Rogers *1981 Ian Rogers *1982

Greg Hjorth Greg Hjorth (14 June 1963 – 13 January 2011) was an Australian Professor of Mathematics, chess International Master (1984) and joint (with Ian Rogers) Commonwealth Champion in 1983. He worked in the field of mathematical logic. Chess caree ...

*1983 Maxwell Fuller *1984 Ian Rogers *1985

*1986 Ian Rogers *1987

*1988

Larry Christiansen Larry Mark Christiansen (born June 27, 1956) is an American chess player of Danish ancestry. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1977. Christiansen was the U.S. champion in 1980, 1983, and 2002. He competed in the FIDE World Champ ...

(USA) *1989 Ian Rogers *1990 Ian Rogers *1991 Ketevan Arakhamia (GEO) *1992 Tony Miles (ENG) *1993 Ian Rogers *1994 Darryl Johansen *1995 Ian Rogers *1996 Darryl Johansen *1997 Ian Rogers *1998 Michael Gluzman *1999 Darryl Johansen *2000 Aleksandar Wohl *2001 Darryl Johansen *2002 David Smerdon *2003 Ian Rogers *2004 Zong-Yuan Zhao *2005 Ian Rogers, Aleksandar WohlThe Doeberl Cup - Previous Winners
/ref> *2006 Igor Goldenberg *2007 Ian Rogers *2008 Varuzhan Akobian (USA) *2009 Deep Sengupta (IND) *2010 Li Chao (CHN) *2011 Andrei Deviatkin (RUS) *2012 Adam Horvath (HUN) *2013 Li Chao (CHN) *2014

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest rated Romanian player ever. Only in September 2022 his rating ...

(GER) *2015 Zhou Weiqi (CHN) *2016 James Morris *2017 Surya Ganguly (IND) *2018 Timur Gareyev (USA) *2019

Hrant Melkumyan Hrant Slavayi Melkumyan (; born April 30, 1989, in Yerevan) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and European Blitz Champion in 2011. Chess career He won the international Internet championship organized by the ICC chess Internet portal. In 2006, ...

(ARM) *2021 Justin Tan *2022

(ARM) *2023

(ARM) *2024

(ARM) All players are Australian unless indicated otherwise. With the exceptions of 1970 and 2005, only outright winners or winners on tie-break are listed.

Trivia

Lloyd Fell played in every Doeberl Cup from its inception in 1963 until 2008.Akobian Claims 2008 Doeberl Cup
, chessdom.com

References

External links