Doeberl Cup

The Doeberl Cup is an annual chess tournament held in Canberra, Australia. It has been held every year since 1963 (apart from 2020) and is the longest running weekend chess event in Australia. Since its inception the event has grown both larger and stronger, and often attracts more players than the Australian Chess Championships.

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 Australian National University. 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 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 FIDE 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
 * 1965 Bill Geus
 * 1966 Bill Geus
 * 1967 John Kellner
 * 1968 Ken Hill
 * 1969 Doug Hamilton
 * 1970 Cecil Purdy, 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
 * 1983 Maxwell Fuller
 * 1984 Ian Rogers
 * 1985 Greg Hjorth
 * 1986 Ian Rogers
 * 1987 Greg Hjorth
 * 1988 Larry Christiansen (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 Wohl
 * 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 (GER)
 * 2015 Zhou Weiqi (CHN)
 * 2016 James Morris
 * 2017 Surya Ganguly (IND)
 * 2018 Timur Gareyev (USA)
 * 2019 Hrant Melkumyan (ARM)
 * 2021 Justin Tan
 * 2022 Hrant Melkumyan (ARM)
 * 2023 Hrant Melkumyan (ARM)
 * 2024 Hrant Melkumyan (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.