A Netflix series creating new buzz for chess has been a driver in the annual Begonia Open tournament's record number of entries.
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The tournament, organised by the Ballarat Chess Club, is one of the first face-to-face tournaments to take place since the pandemic took hold in Victoria last March.
Running annually for the last 55 years consecutively, the 2021 edition of the Begonia Open had 158 entries, 11 more than the previous record set in 2016, including the reigning Australian champion, five grandmasters and 16 Ballarat competitors.
Tournament organiser Kevin Perrin said the club was fortunate to be able to continue its unbroken streak of successfully run events.
"Our one in March last year, a week later, of course, we went into lockdown in Victoria and other states and then there weren't any chess tournaments held in Australia hardly at all and they're just starting to emerge now," he said.
"Some of the players who are playing here, the last tournament they played face to face was this one last year.
"There's been a lot of chess played online but it's not the same, people want to sit down opposite a person and eyeball them and play a real person rather than what appears to be almost playing a computer online but it was better than no chess at all."
Mr Perrin said entrants came from all age groups, from small children to more experienced players, and was boosted by the popularity of Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, with Melbourne schools calling the club looking for players after running short on coaches to keep up with the influx of new players.
"We've got one player at the Ballarat Chess Club who is 10 and he's doing very well. There are other players in the tournament even younger than that and we've got some older ones who have come along to enjoy themselves," he said.
"We had lot of interest from [The Queen's Gambit], people coming to the club wanting to learn and get coached. It's pretty amazing. It's had quite an influence."
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"We've worked hard on the tournament. I was involved as a player in the first one and I've been involved as an organiser and official ever since," Mr Perrin said.
"I'm pretty pleased about it, you get a lot of satisfaction seeing an event successfully completed and run. There's no sort of personal ego trip or anything like that, it's just I like doing that."
While the tournament was able to go ahead for the 55th straight year, it was not without challenges due to ongoing and ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions.
Mr Perrin said the tournament was lucky that restrictions were lessened, with measures such as QR code check-ins and spaced out tables enabling the large field, but a 200-person capacity limit prohibiting spectators and parents from attending.
"We ask people to wear a mask where they can't physically distance, some people are wearing them all the time because that's their choice," he said.
"We're providing hand sanitiser and we've kept the tables further apart than normal so they can keep their 1.5 metres away.
"If people were concerned, they wouldn't be coming would they? They want to get down to play some chess because they haven't been able to for a while so we've got a good entry."
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