Of Kiwis and Kings: A History of Chess in New Zealand
Kia Ora!
Today, I plan to keep the focus of my blog on my beautiful country, New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa, to close friends. In this post, the aim is to tell you more about the history of chess on this lovely, isolated island.
And why this topic? Firstly, because, in my opinion, the timing is perfect, coming right after my last post where I wrote a report on our most important chess event: A Kiwi Chess Festival — Highlights From The NZ Chess Congress 2026. Secondly, because I was very jealous of the great articles that my friend @PokeGirl93 wrote about the history of our beloved game in Brazil and Poland. Therefore, I felt compelled to have my own version.
Additionally, I feel it is important to use my visibility here to show people around the world that New Zealand has much more to offer than just rugby, kiwis, and hobbits. Although we are not a world power, we do have a rich history and interesting things to share regarding chess.
So, get ready to embark on a journey through amazing stories about our first clubs and tournaments, discover more about our great players, our current situation, and our future prospects.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Early Beginnings
2. Tournaments History
3. Key Figures
4. Today
5. Future
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography
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1. Early Beginnings
Fortunately for me, European settlement in New Zealand did not begin until around 1840, so I do not need to go back in time very far to start this story. As most of these settlers came from the United Kingdom, it is not surprising that some of the emigrating chess players took this strange game with them to the other side of the world.
Originally a British colony, we only achieved effective self-government in 1856. However, the first nineteen prime ministers were born overseas, primarily in England, Scotland, or Ireland.
The official history of chess in our country began seven years later, when the first club was founded in Dunedin on 8 September 1863. For those who don’t know, Dunedin is the city where my grandpa lives and where I learnt to play chess. A happy coincidence.
Below, you can check the first game ever to be registered in New Zealand, along with original comments from the Otago Daily Times newspaper at the time.
The New Zealand Chess Federation (NZCF) was established in 1870 to oversee the growing popularity of the game. Interestingly, despite the North Island having a much larger population, chess originated and grew first in the south of the country.
The first national championship took place at the Christchurch Chess Club between 19 August and 4 September 1879. The prize fund was an impressive £80. Not much? Well, that would be equivalent to around 15,000 US dollars in 2026. Henry Hookham was the winner, defeating David Hay in a final game that lasted about six hours.
More than nine years passed before the second championship tournament was held in the 1888/89 New Year period, again in the city of Christchurch. Only six players were competing, and Arthur Morton became the new champion.
This rapid rise in the popularity of chess led to numerous tournaments being organized in the following years, including early telegraphic matches. In fact, New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to hold an official telegraphic chess competition, mainly due to the difficulty of travelling to and around this end of the world remote island with its uneven terrain.
In the 1880s, the game spread further still, with new clubs forming in Invercargill (once again, a city on the South Island) and the first interclub matches being arranged via telegraph.
In the next chapter, we will discuss some important tournaments in more detail, such as the New Zealand Chess Championship, our participation in Olympiad editions, iconic telegraphic matches, and how chess spread to the north of the country.
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2. Tournaments History
The most important chess tournament in the country is, of course, the New Zealand Chess Championship. First played in 1879, 133 editions have been held to date (2026). While most of these have taken place in Auckland, the tournament has been hosted by all major New Zealand cities with some frequency and varies greatly in location.
The first Women’s National Championship took place in 1938, but it has been held at very irregular intervals since then. Consequently, only 31 editions of the event have taken place so far.
But apart from the nationwide tournaments, the two main islands (North and South) also host their own major competitions. These have been played since the 1950s and are creatively named the Shire and Gondor Chess Championships, respectively. No, just kidding; they are the North Island Championship and the South Island Championship. Boring names!
And, of course, let’s not forget that we are also renowned for being pioneers in correspondence chess matches and championships. The first match took place in 1866, when the Christchurch Club beat Nelson in two consultation games. Three years later, in 1869, the Canterbury and Otago clubs also played an interclub match.
The New Zealand Correspondence Chess Association (NZCCA) was founded in Auckland in the 1920s. By 1933, there were enough members to hold the first NZ Correspondence Chess Tournament, which was won by R. O. Scott. The NZCCA also organizes annual championship tournaments and other important events.
Finally, I would like to briefly mention our participation in the Chess Olympiads. Although New Zealand is not one of the strongest countries, we have consistently taken part in recent years, always proudly representing our nation.
The Kiwis' first participation dates back to the 19th edition in 1970, played in Siegen, West Germany, where we finished 1st in Group E, which would be equivalent to the 5th division if you think of it as a football league. Interestingly, New Zealand finished ahead of Turkey, something completely unthinkable in 2026.
In the last edition held in Budapest in 2024, our team finished 70th in the Open section and 48th in the Women's Olympiad. We hope to do even better this year!
In the next chapter, we will meet the players who have won these major events the most times, as well as learning more about other important key figures in New Zealand chess. And no, Vanessa Bristow is not among them... yet!
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3. Key Figures
Yay! It is time for my favorite chapter! Let's meet some of the most important Kiwi players in history. You will discover their stories, their achievements, and their influence on the development of chess in New Zealand. Without further ado, please welcome our legends!
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Robert Wade (10 April 1921 – 29 November 2008)
IM Robert Wade was a three-time national chess champion in the 1940s. He then moved to England, where he became British Champion in 1952 and 1970. During Bobby Fischer's World Championship match in 1972, Wade provided crucial support, primarily in the form of extensive research, analysis, and dossiers on his opponents.
He is also famous for an iconic simultaneous match against a group of Russian boys (read more about it here), and a major New Zealand tournament is named after him, the Bob Wade Memorial.
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Ortvin Sarapu (22 January 1924 – 13 April 1999)
IM Ortvin Sarapu was not a Kiwi by birth. In fact, he was born in Estonia. During a tournament in Germany in 1949, Robert Wade suggested that New Zealand would be a good place for him to escape war-ravaged Europe. He then emigrated to Wellington the following year.
Sarapu won the national championship an incredible 20 times, making him the country's greatest champion and a major contributor to the development of the game here.
Affectionately known as "Mr. Chess", he represented our nation at ten Chess Olympiads. During his career, he drew against renowned players such as Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi.
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Anthony Ker (27 June 1967)
IM Anthony Ker is the second most successful national champion, having won the title 14 times. He represented New Zealand in eight Chess Olympiads between 1988 and 2018. Apart from chess, Ker is also an accomplished bridge player and has represented New Zealand at several international events.
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Mark Noble (30 September 1962)
Mark Frederick Noble became an International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster in 2010, the first and only New Zealand player to receive this title. Aside from chess, he is also a lawn bowls player.
Noble has won several rapid and blitz over-the-board (OTB) chess events in New Zealand, as well as a gold medal in an Interzonal Team Correspondence Chess Championship.
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Murray Chandler (4 April 1960)
Murray Chandler is the country's only GM and, in my opinion, our GOAT (Greatest of All Time). He won the New Zealand Chess Championship at the age of 16 in 1975–76 and represented us in three Chess Olympiads before moving to England.
His GM title was earned in 1983, and he maintained an Elo of around 2600 between 1987 and 1992, a feat that no other New Zealand player has come close to achieving.
Chandler returned to New Zealand in 2006 and won two more national titles. Impressively, he boasts a perfect record of two games and two wins against none other than Garry Kasparov. You can watch the second of these two games below:
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Vivian Smith (15 September 1951)
Vivian Joyce Smith won the Women's National Chess Championship a record ten times and represented New Zealand in fifteen Chess Olympiads. In the 1984 edition, she won the bronze medal on board 3. Vivian holds the title of Woman FIDE Master and can be considered our most successful female player in history.
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If you would like to find out more about Sarapu, Chandler, and Mark Noble, I recommend this excellent post by @VOB96, still in the early stages of her blogging journey: Chess Where I lived - Ep.1: New Zealand. "The Game Of The Kiwis"?
• Full list of New Zealand national chess champions: A History of the New Zealand Chess Championships.
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4. Today
Now that you know so much about our history and many amazing players, you must be naturally wondering about the current state of chess here.
How popular is the game nowadays? How many clubs are there? Who are the strongest players? If I travel to New Zealand, can I play against the air traffic controller straight after landing? Let's find out!
Currently, the New Zealand Chess Federation has 27 registered clubs and groups, and about 18 affiliates and associate clubs. As has been the case in many parts of the world, we have also experienced growing popularity in chess and its global events in recent years.
I assume you are right in thinking that this is mainly related to the huge trend of online chess during the pandemic, shows like The Queen's Gambit, and modern apps that encourage younger players to join us.
In terms of official competitions, the NZCF continues to run the annual national championship, which takes place right after the New Year period. Two players have stood out recently. It is time to get to know them better!
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Daniel Gong (12 January 2003)
FM Daniel Gong (@ITheOnlyME) is a two-time national chess champion, having won his titles in 2022 and 2023. He has also represented New Zealand in the last three Chess Olympiads. His peak rating of 2335 was achieved in February 2023.
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Felix Xie (2008)
IM-elect Felix Xie is the current back-to-back New Zealand chess champion. With an Elo rating of 2379, he is quickly climbing the rankings and showing great potential for further growth. I am confident that he will be a key figure in the future of Kiwi chess.
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Here is the link to a ChessBaseIndia video which provides a behind-the-scenes look at some of New Zealand's most important chess clubs: A behind-the-scenes look at New Zealand’s chess Club Tournaments
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5. Future
And finally, we will talk a little more about the future of chess in New Zealand. What are my expectations, and which players are set to continue the legacy of the greats and secure a brighter future for the game?
In my last blog, I emphasized how happy I was to see so many young players participating in the NZ Chess Congress. Some of them really gave the grandmasters and experienced players a hard time on the board!
Among them, we could mention Richard Jingjie Liu, the junior champion; William Rui Liu, who finished fourth in the main event; and Matthew Keith, who drew a real battle with GM Daniel Fernandez in the last round.
But of course, the aforementioned players, Daniel and Felix, are also still very young and have a lot of development ahead of them. This gives me hope and makes me believe that New Zealand's results in international competitions will only improve in the years to come.
Additionally, it is important to remember that a country's success in chess is not only measured by the number of professional players or their results, but also by how deeply the sport is rooted in its culture.
New clubs continue to form in our cities, and new players discover the game every year. Each generation adds its own chapter to this beautiful ongoing history. From telegraph wires to online boards, from small southern clubs to international Olympiads, chess has always survived, adapted, and quietly grown in New Zealand.
As long as there are Kiwis willing to sit down across a chessboard, its place in Aotearoa's culture is secure. I hope this article has shown that even at the edge of the world, our beloved game has always found a home and will surely continue to do so for many years!
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6. Conclusion
If you are here, thank you very much for reading and exploring the history of chess in my lovely country with me! Writing this article was a huge pleasure, and I learned so many new and fascinating things.
The year 2026 has begun with two posts about New Zealand, and it seems that I am finally honoring the 'Kiwi' part of my nickname. I don't expect to have a huge influence on the popularity of the game here or on our recognition in the rest of the world overnight, but it is always great to make even a small contribution.
If you know of anything important that I have missed or could have mentioned, please let me know in the comments section below. After all, the history of chess in New Zealand is not something that belongs in books or articles alone. Personal stories, clubs, tournaments, school halls, or online games are all part of what makes our great community grow and matter.
I have also included some interesting links below that were used as sources. Feel free to check them out to learn even more about Kiwi chess!
We will meet again on 14 February! Take care!
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7. Bibliography
• The 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand - CHESS
• New Zealand Chess Championship - Wikipedia Page
• A History of New Zealand Chess Championships
• Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand - Page 3: Non-gambling games
