Chess in Australia

Chess has been recorded as played in Australia since the middle of the nineteenth century, during which a chess club was established in Melbourne.

The Australian Chess Federation consists of seven chess association members, corresponding to each of the six Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory. Regionally, it is associated with the Asian Chess Federation, and Australian chess players can compete in the Asian Chess Championship and Asian Junior Chess Championship, where the girls' championship has been held thrice in Adelaide.

The Australian Chess Championship is held every two years, and the Australian Women's Championship is held every year in which an open championship does not fall. The Australian Junior and Girls Championships are held every year by the ACF. The Australian Open, described by its organizers as one of Australia's "premier chess events", is open to players around the world.

Australia is also home to the Southern Hemisphere's largest collection of chess literature at the State Library Victoria, the MV Anderson Chess Collection. The MV Anderson Chess Collection contains 13,000 volumes of chess-related literature, and is home to numerous pieces of chess history such as an excerpt from the mid fifteenth century informational book The Game and Playe of the Chesse.

Australian Defense
The Australian Defense is an unorthodox opening in the Queen's Pawn Game, defined by the moves:


 * 1) d4 Na6

It is recognized as somewhat dubious, but can transpose to the slightly more acceptable de Bruycker Defense in the Caro–Kann if the game continues 2. e4 c6. The Australian Defense has been played by American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura to draw a game with Chinese grandmaster Wang Yue in 2018, English grandmaster Tony Miles in 1996 to draw a game with Swedish grandmaster Ulf Andersson, and American grandmaster Andrew Tang to defeat international master Craig Hilby in the Professional Rapid Online Chess League.

Publications

 * 50 Moves
 * Australian Correspondence Chess Quarterly
 * Australian Chess Magazine

Notable players

 * David Smerdon, grandmaster and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland
 * Bobby Cheng, grandmaster and Australia #1 who dual-represents New Zealand