About Us

Gardiner Chess

Queensland’s Premier Chess Group

Gardiner Chess is the longest serving chess organisation in Queensland, having been established by Graeme and Wendy Gardiner in 2002. The business was sold to two long-term employees, Justine Jule and Andrew FitzPatrick in 2015 and they together with their staff continue to take Gardiner Chess forwards.

Gardiner Chess provides three main ways into the world of chess:

Chess coaching within schools via in person lessons throughout Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, or via online methods for regional schools
Regular tournaments for players of all ages through the Official Queensland Inter-School Chess Championships, regular weekend events for both adults and juniors, and holiday programs for junior players.
Online chess shop for all your equipment needs. We post anywhere in Australia!

Gardiner Chess is the market leader in all things chess with our coaching programs regularly achieving excellent feedback and our events being the envy of other organisations around Australia.

Events Coaching

Chess helps teach that it is vital that we remain active and resourceful and never give up.

Determination

An important virtue throughout life, which sets the foundations for success.

Patience

A disciplined approach always comes with rewards. Applying this principle provides an excellent foundation to build from.

Discipline

Every move we make has a consequence and reaction and this can be expanded into life decisions.

Responsibility for our Actions

Chess is a courteous game and the respect we give to our players is paramount both during a game and in society.

Respect

Students learn best when having fun! Our lessons are designed to be engaging and interesting.

Fun

Chess helps train students to use their imagination and get creative to find solutions in their games, and lives.

Imagination and Creativity

Through chess students learn logic and reasoning skills - vital for stringing together thoughts to gain a conclusion.

Logic and Reasoning

In every aspect of life, we aim to see the bigger picture before making a critical decision.

Strategic Thinking

Why do we believe in chess?

We believe that chess has great benefits for students lucky enough to learn the game. The 9 boxes on the left highlight some of those key pillars of learning that students can gain from being taught chess. At Gardiner Chess we are passionate about every student having the opportunity to learn the game of chess, and we also believe that chess has fewer barriers to being able to participate than most activities.

Whether it be the student learning to become a top player, the student learning because they just enjoy a game of chess, or the student who is involved because their friends are, we believe that there are huge benefits that each student can gain from being taught chess.

Finally, we believe that anyone can learn to play chess – indeed there has been a significant increase in uptake in adults following the smash hit Netflix series ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

Events Contact Us

Client Schools

90

Inter-School Participants 2023

13728

Inter-School Tournaments Run 2023

59

Weekend Events Run 2023

20

Number of Staff

70

Our Team Members

Gardiner Chess is nothing without our awesome employees! Meet some of the full-time and key staff below!

Justine Jule

Co-Owner and Office Manager

Justine has been with the company since 2006 when she joined the administration team. Although not a chess player herself, Justine’s children have all played and represented schools at the Australian Schools Teams Championships, whilst her eldest daughter Alexandra is a Women’s International Master. Justine has a wealth of experience in office management and looks after the school coaching programs and all the coaches timetables.

[email protected]

Andrew FitzPatrick

Co-Owner and Director of Operations

Andrew joined Gardiner Chess in 2010. Andrew has experienced chess from the player side having learnt at age 6, whilst he has coached in schools and privately in Canberra, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. Andrew formerly headed up the Events department, but now oversees the Operations portfolio, seeking business improvement. Andrew holds a FIDE Instructor chess coaching qualification, a FIDE Arbiter qualification and has served as Vice President and Tournament Officer of the Chess Association of Queensland where he is a life member.

[email protected]

Martin Harmon

Sunshine Coast Area Manager

Martin has been with Gardiner Chess since 2009. Martin was a casual coach for many years whilst undertaking his secondary teaching degree, however stayed on the chess path when the opportunity arose to join the Gardiner team on a permanent basis. Martin organises the training and mentoring of our Brisbane based coaches, creating the most highly trained chess staff in Queensland. Martin is the coach at several high profile curriculum based programs including St John’s Anglican School and Sunshine Coast Grammar School. Martin also holds a FIDE Arbiter qualification and has been heavily involved in work with the GPS Schools Competition over the years.

[email protected]

Dusan Stojic

Brisbane South Area Manager

Dusan has been a member of the Gardiner Chess team since 2015 having moved to Queensland from Melbourne. Dusan has become and integral part of the coaching and mentoring team in Brisbane, having previously coordinated the Somerset College program on the Gold Coast. Dusan is a regular tournament player, is the current Queensland Chess Champion and holds the titles of FIDE Master and FIDE Arbiter.

[email protected]

Michael Bouchaud

Events Coordinator and Chess Coach

Michael has been with us for a while, having originally joined us as a casual chess coach a number of years ago! Michael has worked as a coach in many of the school on the Gold Coast including all the big ones, and has been getting more and more involved with events - leading to him joining us permanently and taking up the Events Coordinator role. Michael now takes charge of the Northern Inter-School run each term and has been more involved in the South-East Queensland events this year as time permits. Michael also oversees many of our weekend events on the Gold Coast and our awesome holiday programs that we run each holidays. Michael is currently a National Arbiter, and is working towards his FIDE Arbiter title.

[email protected]

Ben Skinner

Executive and Somerset Coordinator

Ben joined Gardiner Chess in late 2022 initially as a casual Chess Coach, before joining the Executive Team full-time alongside Andrew and Justine in early 2023. With over a decade of experience in the education industry, Ben brings a range of skills and experience to the business, having worked in General Management as well as other high level positions. He has taken on the large portfolio of Somerset College across the past two years- leading a team of coaches on the ground in delivering weekly lessons and clubs to over 200 students each week. Further to this, Ben has been working steadily in the background on a range of technological solutions to help our business power forward into the future. Ben is passionate about Chess, business with a purpose and loves bringing out the best in people.

[email protected]

Gardiner Chess