Hosted by: Gold Coast
7 rounds, 25 teams
| Place | Club | Board Points |
| 1 | Club Bullwinkle (Blue Bear) | 35.5/42 |
| 2 | Excessive Epicness | 32/42 |
| 3 | Yi Liu | 26/42 |
After winning three consecutive Qld Teams Championships from 2016-2018, Bullwinkle went through a lean patch, coming 3rd in 2019 and 2022 around a brace of uncontested covid years. Renowned for thinking more outside of the box than over the board, the club hierarchy put this down to having failed to conceptualise team names early enough.
This year, we rectified the error. Bullwinkle rocked up to King’s Christian College, Pimpama, with three teams:
Deez Knights: led by Henry Slater-Jones, with Will Searle, Aadit Arora, Santi DeLeon, Owen Yu and Alex Ko all on debut. Bullwinkle’s next generation performed admirably, notching a number of upsets and finishing 18th (a single board-point behind the second Bullwinkle team). Santi DeLeon was particularly impressive on Board 4, scoring 5/7 and staying undefeated through the first six rounds.
Deez Knights
| Sat 25 Nov, 10:00 AM | A |  | Mars Chess Club | 0.5 - 5.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 11:00 AM | A | | Shaun Curtis Juniors | 4 - 2 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 12:00 PM | A | | Doubleroo | 2 - 4 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 1:00 PM | A | | Jack Rodgers | 5 - 1 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 2:00 PM | A | | Mackay | 4.5 - 1.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 3:00 PM | A | | Doubleroo | 2.5 - 3.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 4:00 PM | A | | Logan City | 1.5 - 4.5 |
Team Grey Goose: Nick Johnson, Michael D’Arcy, Jason Chan, Stuart Holt, Dominic Olm-Milligan, Halim Nataprawira. Bullwinkle’s second team rode the Swiss rollercoaster to 14th place. Michael D’Arcy scored 5/7 on Board 2 (captaining!), while Jason Chan (5½) put in another sterling performance on Board 3.
Grey GOose
| Sat 25 Nov, 10:00 AM | A | | Toowoomba | 5.5 - 0.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 11:00 AM | A | | Jack Rodgers | 2 - 4 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 12:00 PM | A | | Redcliffe | 2.5 - 3.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 1:00 PM | A | | Doubleroo | 3 - 3 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 2:00 PM | A | | Mars Chess Club | 1.5 - 4.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 3:00 PM | A | | Jack Rodgers | 3.5 - 2.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 4:00 PM | A | | Yi Liu | 3 - 3 |
Team Blue Bear: David Smerdon, Roland Schmaltz, Bruce Williams, Jayden Ooi, Ross Lam, Brian Thomas. Bullwinkle’s first team reclaimed the much-coveted title, captained by GM David Smerdon (5½/7) and bolstered by the return of GM Roland Schmaltz (7/7) playing his first Bullwinkle game since 2008(!) and an equally assured picket fence from Brian Thomas on Board 6. Bruce Williams (5½), Jayden Ooi (5) and Ross Lam (5½ on debut) all contributed to a dominant team display.
Blue Bear
| Sat 25 Nov, 10:00 AM | A | | Shaun Curtis Juniors | 6 - 0 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 11:00 AM | A | | Logan City | 6 - 0 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 12:00 PM | A | | Excessive Epicness | 2.5 - 3.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 1:00 PM | A | | University of Queensland | 5.5 - 0.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 2:00 PM | A | | Doubleroo | 6 - 0 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 3:00 PM | A | | Jack Rodgers | 5.5 - 0.5 |
| Sat 25 Nov, 4:00 PM | A | | Shaun Curtis Juniors | 4 - 2 |
Dominant? Well, except for the loss to defending champions Excessive Epicness! Tyson’s team won the direct encounter 3½-2½ and went undefeated through the event, only to lose out on board points (a scoring system that has bitten Bullwinkle in the past and proved no less cruel on this occasion).
That didn’t keep us from celebrating…
Also in attendance for Bullwinkle were Nik Stawski (drafted to play Board 2 for the ex-Churchie UQ Amigos), Regina Edwards (helping out Mackay) and Jacob Edwards (enjoying the novelty of not playing at all).
In terms of milestones, Roland Schmaltz notched his 20th rapid game for the club, thereby entering the Hall of Fame. Jason Chan and Bruce Williams both moved up a level, each having played their 60th.