The Australian chess season reaches its peak this week with the 2026 O2C Doeberl Cup. Held in Canberra from April 2nd to 6th, this tournament marks 63 years of a tradition that has become a cornerstone of the sport in the Southern Hemisphere.
Originally founded in 1963, the Doeberl Cup is famous for often attracting a larger and stronger field than the national championship itself. This year is no exception, as hundreds of players across all divisions gather at the Southern Cross Club in Woden Valley.
The Premier Division remains the main attraction, featuring a 9-round FIDE and ACF rated battle. Leading the starting rank is Australia’s top-tier Grandmaster Temur Kuybokarov (2548), followed closely by India’s GM Guha Mitrabha (2505).
IM Mihajlo Radovanović (2437) from Serbia is seeded 4th, looking to challenge for the top spots and a share of the AU$16,050 Premier prize pool. The winner of the top section will walk away with AU$5,000 and join the legendary list of champions that includes names like Ian Rogers and Hrant Melkumyan.
The Doeberl Cup is structured to be a true festival, offering competition for every rating bracket:
Major, Minor, and Mini Divisions: These 7-round events (April 3–6) provide a professional setting for players rated between 1200 and 1999.
Under 1200s: A dedicated section for developing talent and unrated players.
Saturday Lightning: The popular blitz program returns on April 4th, offering a high-speed break from the classical time controls.
The tournament maintains high professional standards, with a 90+30 time control for the main sections. Organizers continue the tradition of supporting elite talent by offering free entry to all GMs, IMs, and players with a FIDE rating above 2500.
With a total cash prize fund of AU$26,140, the 2026 edition reinforces the Doeberl Cup’s status as a premier destination for players seeking both rating gains and significant rewards. As the first rounds get underway in Canberra, the stage is set for another historic chapter in Australian chess.
2026 O2C Doeberl Cup Premier
1 GM Kuybokarov Temur AUS 2548
2 GM Mitrabha Guha IND 2505
3 GM Mirzoev Azer AZE 2438
4 IM Radovanovic Mihajlo SRB 2437
5 IM Xie Felix NZL 2407
6 GM Rios Gomez Cristhian Camilo COL 2385
7 FM Winkelman Albert AUS 2372
8 IM Ikeda Junta AUS 2356
9 GM Antonio Rogelio Jr PHI 2355
10 GM Stopa Jacek POL 2342
11 FM Vargas Arteaga Alexis COL 2323
12 FM Soo Kai Jie AUS 2297
13 IM Cannon David AUS 2296
14 FM Kurniawan Stephanus AUS 2285
15 CM Le Tri Kien VIE 2280
16 FM Thing Bibek NEP 2275
17 FM Chakrabarty Reyaansh AUS 2271
18 IM Testolin Ryder AUS 2218
19 Zhu Harvey (Hanchen) AUS 2212
20 IM Lane Gary W AUS 2200
21 CM Gao Arthur AUS 2190
22 FM Stojic Dusan AUS 2184
23 WGM Nguyen Thi Mai Hung VIE 2183
24 CM Xia Justin AUS 2164
25 FM Dragicevic Domagoj AUS 2162
26 FM Annapureddy Rheyansh Reddy AUS 2146
27 FM Datar Tejas AUS 2144
28 WIM Richards Heather S AUS 2140
29 FM Hu Yifei AUS 2134
30 CM Tang Terrence AUS 2133
31 CM Rusakov Jean AUS 2129
32 FM Chan Kris AUS 2128
33 FM Rej Tomek AUS 2125
34 FM Ilic Nicholas AUS 2124
35 FM Melamed Daniel AUS 2115
36 FM Dai Cheng AUS 2113
37 Lo Willis AUS 2104
38 CM Lane Ryan AUS 2097
39 CM Prasad Lalit AUS 2092
40 FM Kethro Michael AUS 2082
41 CM Li Hui MAC 2070
42 CM Smith Declan AUS 2060
43 Power Ted AUS 2049
44 CM Zheng Tony AUS 2037
45 CM Huang Yuan AUS 2036
46 CM Wang Daniel AUS 2029
47 CM Verma Rudra AUS 2016
48 Cronin Henry AUS 2015
49 FM Steadman Michael NZL 2012
50 WFM Fan Chloe AUS 2012
51 Zhao Lucas AUS 2012
52 CM Xing Zerui AUS 2011
53 CM Salasan Haran AUS 2008
54 Corona Jonluke AUS 2002
55 CM Slater-Jones Henry AUS 2001
56 CM O’Carroll Jeremy AUS 1989
57 CM Ni Lucas AUS 1983
58 CM Kelly Adam AUS 1966
59 WFM Cheng Chao Xin AUS 1931
60 Rumley William AUS 1895
2026 O2C Doeberl Cup Major
1 CM Hartley James VIC 2027
2 CM Nisban Cyrus OS 1859
3 CM Forster William OS 1786
4 Retnaraja Ethan SA 1949
5 Appleton David A QLD 1917
6 He Andrew NSW 1963
7 Vos Nomon ACT 1872
8 Jain Shaurya QLD 1896
9 Lester George E QLD 1946
10 Fasakin Oladoyin ACT 1956
11 Peramunetilleke Savin NSW 1931
12 Walls Kye NSW 1878
13 CM Nguyen Anh Kiet VIC 1994
14 Raman Kanav OS 1773
15 CM Davis Tony J VIC 1880
16 Babic Michael S NSW 1835
17 Farley Andrew ACT 0
18 Zha Leyao NSW 1842
19 Marsden John A NSW 1880
20 Horikawa Masaki ACT 1893
21 Devin Alex QLD 1852
22 Johnson Harry ACT 1887
23 Anup Kumar Vihaan NSW 1905
24 Lim Jongmin NSW 1841
25 Siva Sankaran Anup Kumar NSW 1836
26 Chai Kang VIC 1834
27 CM Cabilin Jeff NSW 1823
28 Malcolm Aidan NSW 1803
29 Arav Nathan NSW 1840
30 Shepherd Samuel VIC 1827
31 Liu Ryan Chengji NSW 1810
32 Thuaux Alexander NSW 1841
33 Gao Terry NSW 1815
34 WCM O’Carroll Om VIC 1744
35 Meldrum George W ACT 1793
36 Jia Zining (Matthew) QLD 1940
37 Christensen Joshua NSW 1789
38 Barakat Martin NSW 1753
39 Li Ashton NSW 1797
40 Esposito David NSW 1789
41 Fasakin Olamide ACT 1828
42 Hosking Ian ACT 1826
43 Duncan Matthew NSW 1737
44 Cheng Larry ACT 1846
45 CM Russell Paul VIC 1747
46 Kuncoro Leo NSW 1800
47 Xing Zeqi QLD 1748
48 Chisholm Tom R NSW 1803
49 Holt Stuart QLD 1838
50 WCM Qian Vicky NSW 1802
51 Butler Brian J ACT 1792
52 Vos Somon ACT 1730
53 MacMullin Owen ACT 1847
54 Arav Callan NSW 1798
55 Song Sam VIC 1768
56 Buhagiar Aden VIC 1802
57 Pearce Tim ACT 1754
58 Clegg Julius ACT 1709
59 Bashirov Ernest QLD 1776
60 Tay Mason NSW 1853
61 Liu Haoqian (William) QLD 1841
62 Sivaraj Avinav NSW 1803
63 Cooper Matt ACT 1711
64 WCM Qian Linda (Zhiling) NSW 1801
65 Djatschenko Addison TAS 1725
66 Hegde Sanat ACT 1795
67 Xia ChengYi QLD 1757
68 Yuan Winson NSW 1763
69 Ingham Glenn QLD 1679
70 Liu Max (Qixuan) NSW 1744
71 Tai Ethan OS 1720
72 Jain Kamal NSW 1763
73 Abhayaratna James ACT 1686
74 Zhang Oliver NSW 1733
75 Ramanathan Ashwin VIC 1744
76 Chen Nicholas Yuileng QLD 1687
77 Xie Leo NSW 1756
78 Fan Aiden VIC 1703
2026 O2C Doeberl Cup Minor
1 Raman Mudit OS 1658
2 Martin Benjamin QLD 1741
3 Serfontein Louis NSW 1599
4 Harding Jonathon NSW 1684
5 Wei Yi Chen OS 1624
6 Kien Satra ACT 1618
7 Lee Nicholas ACT 1814
8 Hegde Lohit ACT 1700
9 Pu Yu OS 1604
10 Parker Trent NSW 1769
11 O’Donoghue Malachi NSW 1728
12 Chai Isaac VIC 1764
13 Sheridan Wallace WA 1476
14 Shin Donghoon ACT 1703
15 Campbell Paul ACT 1765
16 Cheng Jerry ACT 1777
17 Chan Chi Ngo OS 1543
18 Radisich Matt ACT 1750
19 Fasakin Olaoluwa ACT 1682
20 Doan Peter NSW 1702
21 Gyalpo Padma Yonten ACT 1725
22 Pyne Rohan QLD 1661
23 Nguyen Quan QLD 1723
24 Tanner Daniel NSW 1453
25 Nisban Corwin OS 1591
26 Pavlidis Alexi NSW 1657
27 Jain Anshika NSW 1686
28 Parker Lucas VIC 1654
29 Badrinarayan Siddhant ACT 1663
30 Liang Xibing OS 1665
31 Van Der Meer Andrew QLD 1645
32 Liu Kevin NSW 1563
33 Qin Lexuan OS 1676
34 Dorrian Benjamin NSW 1684
35 Powell-Davies Thomas TAS 1580
36 Robinson Andrew NSW 1566
37 Vinothkumar Nivin ACT 1773
38 Sun Dejun QLD 1594
39 Hamilton Don QLD 1640
40 Quek Alex ACT 1640
41 Brockman Roland VIC 1556
42 Wolffs Walter VIC 1549
43 Liu Mike QLD 1609
44 Nisha Raj Taran NSW 1631
45 Wang Chloe QLD 1594
46 Zhu Zane (Zichen) NSW 1582
47 Dixon Alex ACT 1589
48 Kuncoro Harvey NSW 1591
49 Sweeney Matthew NSW 1506
50 Li Fiona Chenxi OS 1589
51 Selva Muthukumar Sahasra ACT 1697
52 Threlfall Leo NSW 1662
53 Harris Bruce QLD 1572
54 Chi Jaden VIC 1572
55 Oakley Brett QLD 1539
56 Wu Ethan QLD 1636
57 Ramprasad Nachiket VIC 1638
58 Gandhi Ishaan NSW 1579
59 Gajula Hemanth OS 1548
60 Rej Alexander NSW 1597
61 Rawat Aarav ACT 1616
62 Mogullapalli Advaith VIC 1584
63 Xi Cheng NSW 1613
64 Subin Adrian ACT 1639
65 Cervenjak Mark QLD 1546
66 Woollard Kelvin VIC 1520
67 Madoc James ACT 1519
68 Xia Bella VIC 1588
69 Annamalai Akshay ACT 1502
70 Zhang Emma (Zihan) NSW 1491
71 Ashok Arjun VIC 1551
72 Zhang Chi Long VIC 1544
73 Lakshman Emmanuel NSW 1591
74 Liu Clarissa QLD 1577
75 Karunagaran Sreyaa NSW 1472
76 Majety Rohan VIC 1433
77 Lyu Youxun OS 1588
78 Wang Ruoshui (Ryan) QLD 1558
79 Ha Aeson VIC 1587
80 Liu William NSW 1482
81 Zhang Jason QLD 1488
82 Goldstein Clio NSW 1548
83 Singh Abir Vidhur OS 1490
84 Biju Alberto VIC 1522
85 Veginati Cherish VIC 1491
86 Wang Iris QLD 1608
87 Devlin Brian NT 1461
88 Wu Eleanor QLD 1499
89 O’Keefe Jeremy ACT 1524
90 Le Cong Joshua QLD 1488
91 Yates Anna VIC 1556
92 Zhang Kaylin VIC 1459
93 Sheth Adidev VIC 1465
94 Rahul Amay ACT 1544
95 Fu Francis QLD 1541
96 Chen Osborn NSW 1507
97 Singh Adir Pratap OS 1540
98 Cady Christian NSW 1440
2026 O2C Doeberl Cup Mini
1 Beare Nick ACT 1717
2 Knight Will AUS 1757
3 He Enock NSW 1723
4 Stokes Mark C QLD 1693
5 Tiffen Rodney E NSW 0
6 Vangala Abhinav ACT 1657
7 Wang Isaac (Yijun) NSW 1680
8 Belton Chris NSW 1613
9 Buckley James ACT 1619
10 Cutting Luke VIC 1650
11 Hou Charles ACT 1772
12 Jago Stephen VIC 1605
13 Guan Zheng ACT 1667
14 Lee Thiam Woon ACT 1603
15 Shu John NSW 1608
16 Kadouch Ezechiel ACT 1583
17 Rajpura Palash NSW 1509
18 Adler Sven ACT 0
19 Chang Ike NSW 1603
20 Zhang Xiaoyao VIC 1540
21 Vijay Ayaansh QLD 1576
22 Fan Licheng VIC 1498
23 Fitzgerald Michael ACT 1644
24 Zhang Kyle ACT 1627
25 Woo Eric ACT 1583
26 Nelson James ACT 1584
27 Thulasidas Manish VIC 1607
28 Lane Jasmine NSW 1427
29 Gough Joel NSW 1567
30 Horikawa Tomoki ACT 1512
31 Liang Nancy OS 1496
32 Cunningham Campbell ACT 1438
33 Prabhu Srihari ACT 1516
34 Mididuddi Varshini ACT 1448
35 Carruthers Ethan NSW 1446
36 Bryant Sam ACT 1635
37 Ruaya Rohan VIC 1475
38 Luyen Andy ACT 1487
39 Kevork Leo NSW 1564
40 Jyothi Nikhil Neev VIC 1428
41 Dunn Paul ACT 1448
42 Gajula Karan VIC 1497
43 Xu James ACT 1576
44 Hegde Mahi ACT 0
45 Meredith Zoe TAS 1438
46 Anderson Rinch ACT 1467
47 Nair Abhilash Dhyan ACT 1485
48 Chen Taiming NSW 1446
49 Zhang Tianyu QLD 0
50 Singh Abhyuday VIC 1512
51 Deng-Xia Brandon QLD 0
52 Ong Yun Li (Charlotte) QLD 1466
53 Tan Mia VIC 0
54 Jain Aaron ACT 1433
55 Zhang Kelvin ACT 1519
56 Gajula Nishitha VIC 1450
57 Zhao Oscar VIC 0
58 Ansary Abhiq ACT 0
59 Goh Nicholas VIC 1400
60 Duncan Atticus ACT 1405
61 Gudipati Yashas ACT 0
62 Goh Daphne VIC 0
63 Goh Julian VIC 0
64 Lander Kieran NSW 0
65 Mar Canudas ACT 0
66 Paudel Prakarsha ACT 0
67 Raappana-Ezzy Ryan NSW 0
68 Te Whare Cameron ACT 0
