I played the 133rd New Zealand Chess Congress!
Hello and welcome to 2026! I trust you've had a great first couple of weeks as we kick off the New Year! It was only two weeks ago that I posted my final blog in the Improvers Journey series where I recapped the entire year, and we're already back into competitive chess!
I'm still in New Zealand, but unlike my previous travel blog where I played casual chess in some clubs, this time I played a classical tournament. Starting on January 2nd and continuing for the next 10 days until January 11th, I played the 133rd New Zealand Chess Congress in Invercargill, New Zealand.
This chess festival is the peak of Kiwi chess, the #1 chess event in New Zealand. There are many different tournaments in the Congress, from classical to rapid to fast-classical to blitz, and many different sections with restrictions based on age and rating.
As the epic finale to my time here in New Zealand, I played three tournaments in the Congress, cemented my place as an established FIDE player, and made strides toward my goal of becoming a player of National Master strength.
- Event overview.
- Day 1: Long day of travel, smooth game of chess.
- Day 2: Quick game, long game.
- Day 3: Fighting 'till the end, win with style.
- Day 4: Unfortunate pairings.
- Day 5: 93% accuracy win, 96% accuracy draw.
- Day 6: A day of crazy draws.
- Day 7: National Champion, and a rematch to remember.
- Day 8: Brilliant Hunting.
- Day 9: Growth.
- Day 10: Lightning chess against champions.
- Final Reflections.
- Extra Photos.
The New Zealand Chess Congress is the premier chess event of New Zealand, combining many different chess tournaments into one big festival. The Congress is the term for the entire event which spans just under two weeks, and there are multiple separate tournaments over the course of the Congress.
The main attraction is the New Zealand Chess Championships, which in recent times has been in the format of a nine-round Swiss tournament, open to all. This tournament frequently attracts the best up-and-coming players in New Zealand, as well as established chess players and some Kiwi legends of times past. This year, the Championship featured two grandmasters from Europe, GM Daniel Fernandez and GM Jacek Stopa, as well as current New Zealand Champion IM-elect Felix Xie.
Besides the Championship, there was also an Under-2000 tournament restricted to players rated under 2000 New Zealand Chess Federation (NZCF). That tournament is called the Major Open, and it runs along the same schedule as the Championship.
Then there's the New Zealand Junior Championship for U20 players, the Invercargill Open, the Lightning Championship and the Rapid Championship.
I played in three of these tournaments: the Major Open, the Junior Championship, and the Lightning Championship. I didn't have a NZCF rating, but I did have an inactive FIDE rating from a couple years ago in the United States. My FIDE rating was 1805, and that was my rating used for pairing for these tournaments.
The Major Open had a time control of G90/40, SD30+30s; which meant that both me and my opponent would start off with 90 minutes, and then we would get 30 extra minutes once we had each made 40 moves. And of course, there's a 30 second increment on every move.
As I came from the USA and my FIDE ID was created by the US Chess Federation, I played under the flag of the United States. It was an absolute honour to play for my country of America in my country of New Zealand.
The Junior Championship overlapped for 7 of the 9 days of the Major Open but at a different time and time control. The Junior time control was G60+30s, just a simple hour for the game with half a minute added after each move. The different time meant that every single day I would play a game in the Junior Championship at 9 AM, and then play a game in the Major Open at 2 PM. Two games of chess each day, two different tournaments.
And then the Lightning was a half-day affair, time control of 3+2s, held the day after the Major Open and NZ Championship concluded.
All of this combined for a fun experience with plenty of chess to play!
Day 1: Long day of travel, smooth game of chess.
Or one airplane ride! This journey started by waking up at 4:00 AM in Tauranga and driving to Auckland, where I caught a plane to Invercargill. The flight took a couple hours, so I had plenty of time to calm down, breathe, and get into the zone.
After landing, I walked out onto the tarmac and headed for the hotel. My first glimpse of the room that I was to spend the next ten days in set the vibe perfectly. Down a long hallway filled with giant chess pieces was a room filled with chessboards, with the Major Open boards on the left and the NZ Championship on the right.
Since I was the top seed for the Major, I had the honour of playing on Board 1 in the first round. The first game actually started a couple of hours after I arrived at the hotel, so there was little time to relax first. After the opening ceremony and a brief security check for electronic devices, the game started.
My first game in my first international tournament! I had the white pieces against Michael, a 1400-rated player with a FIDE rating of 1639. Although the flight wasn't bad, I was feeling a bit tired, so I wanted a slow game to win quietly. No fireworks please.
GGs to Michael, and a pretty good game by me. Exactly what I wanted to start off the tournament. I went to sleep knowing that I had a great start and tomorrow would lead to even more adventures.
After a good night's sleep, I woke up, had some cereal, and started getting in the frame of mind for the first game of the NZ Junior Championship. Since the time control is shorter, only 60+30s for the game which is more like a USCF tournament, I felt more comfortable blitzing out moves and experimenting with openings.
I got the black pieces in Round 1 of the Junior, so every day I'll be playing two games with one colour. My opponent was 11-year-old Vrajesh, with a national rating of 1211.
Quick game! Well played by my young opponent for not resigning, that attitude will take you a long way.
Onto other things though. After the game, I started getting into a routine of going for a run/workout, then swimming, then taking a shower, and then getting into the zone for the afternoon game. Lunch was a sandwich, full of delicious substances that aid my chess playing abilities!
And just like that, it was time for the Major Open Round 2 game! I had the black pieces just like this morning, and I played an older gentleman by the name of Andrew. Andrew had an impressive FIDE rating of 1715, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to play. Also adding to my puzzlement was the fact that the pairings had been up for several hours, so from now on players can prepare openings against their opponents.
The game started with an Exchange Caro-Kann, but instead of recapturing the pawn with the c6 pawn, I took with the queen and made the game into a Scandinavian-type structure. This was partly with the idea of sidestepping any prep, and also partly for the heck of it.
After a c4 push by Andrew and some typical Scandinavian shuffling, we played our hearts out for four hours. The middlegame wasn't that interesting, so let's skip to the endgame and see how that went.
Incredibly well played by Mr. Andrew! The game was dead even for nearly 70 moves, and he was actually better for a few moves in the middlegame. But in the end, I would not be denied, and I earned my second win in the Major. I say 'earned', because, boy, I had to work for it!
Day 3: Fighting 'till the end, win with style.
Another good night's sleep, and another day of chess! It was Sunday, a time for quiet reflection and a time to play chess with the Ultimate goal in mind. After a succulent breakfast of cereal, I got dressed up in slacks and a dress shirt, I headed down to the tournament hall just in time.
Today I have the white pieces for both the Junior and the Major games. My opponent in the morning's Junior game was Ryan, a strong player rated 1711. I already knew this would be a tough game because last night Ryan drew the third seed in the Major, and even had his winning chances. I was happy to have the white pieces for this game!
I felt like I was better out of the opening, but I messed up the middlegame and then blundered at the end. Fortunately, Ryan was in severe time trouble for the last 15 moves and that proved to be telling.
Whew! That game was more in the style of my games in 2024 Minnesota: make quick moves, get a worse position, and win in a time scramble. That style works out alright in 60+30s, but not in the longer time control of the Major Open. Something to keep in mind.
Since the game took three hours, it was noon and I decided not to go for a run immediately. Instead, I kicked back, had some lunch, wrote some more of this blog(!), and listened to worship/praise music until the Major game.
I almost ran late for the start of the game! But I scrambled down and got there in time! My opponent was a 1700 named Caleb, a young fella that I had seen playing before. Without any previous plan as to openings, I sat down and played the game.
I felt like I had played a perfect game, and the post-game analysis thought so too, although I gave him a couple of chances to get back in the game. All in all, I'm very happy my play so far! 5/5 across both tournaments, tomorrow will give me a chance to improve upon that!
I woke feeling ready to play some more, but my pairings didn't make me enthusiastic. My Junior game was against my brother, @ChessicalMoves, and my Major game was against an 11 year old 1700 with 3/3 points.
Jumping straight to the game against my brother, I wanted to win but I was also fine with a draw. I had the black pieces and wasn't sure what to play; we've played each other so many times casually that we know all there is to know about our respective styles and strategies. I wanted to play a Modern-type game with c6, so for the first time this tournament I did some preparation and prepared a couple lines.
What a crazy game! A draw seemed like a fair result, then a bad result since I was winning, then a great result! But I would much rather have played someone else, then take points off of my brother.
After that ride of a game, I barely had enough time to unwind and get set for the next game. And if there was any game I needed to get set for, it was this one.
As I mentioned earlier, my opponent Martin is only 11 years old, but he boasts a FIDE rating of 1786 and was one of three players left with a perfect score. It is so scary playing kids man, you never know how much they know, and facing someone half your height with twice your brainpower is never enjoyable!
That was.. strange, to say the least. But we get the win, and I am now the only player on a perfect score! There are a couple of people on 3.5/4, and many more on 3/4 so the tournament is not won yet.
Day 5: 93% accuracy win, 96% accuracy draw.
Well, well, well. Almost at the half way point of the tournament, and from now it only gets harder. The games I've had were the easier half (not that any of them were easy), and now is the time for the chess to show who deserves to win after five days of play.
First off, we have the Junior game. My opponent was an 11 year old 1700 with 2/3 point.. and wait, wasn't that the script for yesterday? Why yes it was!
That's right, my opponent is none other than my Major opponent last night, Martin. This is the rematch of the previous game in a different tournament, and the colours are switched, so a perfect time to score an important win.
That ended up being very similar to last night's game against him, except that I actually achieved a winning position before the time situation proved telling.
At the start of this round there were two players on a perfect 3/3 score, and they played each other and one of them won. That sets me up to play the winner tomorrow in a battle for first place.
After that game ended, I went for a quick swim and started looking ahead for my Major game. My opponent Aidan was the third seed by rating, and in fact he was rated only 1 point lower than me. I had the white pieces as expected and was going to play for a cautious win. My gameplan going into the game was that a draw was alright, as Aidan had already drawn one game and was behind me in the standings, and a win would be perfect.
When the time came to play, I was ready. The thought had entered into my head that I should be careful of people prepping for me, but I decided not to worry about that this game and just focus on playing good moves.
A draw is a fair result considering that we both played with 96% accuracy and traded into an endgame with only heavy pieces and pawns on move 16!
After the game, the psychology of the match became apparent. Aidan thought I was playing for a win, and he said that he was happy with a draw after I traded the bishops. I thought Aidan was playing for a win, and I was focused on surviving. I could have played on a bit further, but there weren't any real chances and I would have been under pressure due to low time.
Now comes the hard part of the Congress. We're past the halfway point, and with only four games left in the Major and three in the Junior, things are heating up. I'm doing very well in both tournaments, but I need to continue for the next 7 games to finish strong and win.
With that being said, my game in the Junior is set up perfectly. I played the tournament leader, Richard, who had just beaten the top seed in an epic clash and was leading the tournament with 4/4 points. A win for me would leapfrog him and put me at the top, while anything else would hand him the tournament lead with little chance of losing it in the final two rounds.
Richard was rated 1924 FIDE and had apparently been prepping for me late into the night. I did my usual prep of getting a good night's sleep, relaxing right before the game, and staying focused on the game from when it started to when it finished. Also, I had a trick up my sleeve to deal with Richard's prep.
My conclusion of this game was that it was much more in the style of a Minnesota chess match: play whatever opening, fight in the middlegame, and then there's excitement and blunders and stuff in the time scramble. Fortunately for me, I'm used to persevering in games like these and the practice paid off.
The show must go on! I'll worry about the Junior standings later, for now I have to focus on the Major game. For the second time in the Congress, I played one of my opponents from one of the previous days, and this time I get to play my brother Jesse once again. Jesse had 4.5/5 points , the same amount as me, and a win would keep me at the top of the standings while a draw would allow other people to catch up and a loss would be devastating.
The stage was set for a battle of the brothers, both of us tied for sole first place. I had the black pieces, same as our Junior game, and my plan was very similar to the Junior game as well. However, this time there would be no time trouble theatrics.
Well-earned draw. I missed a chance to go for more, but that's okay.
Day 7: National Champion, and a rematch to remember.
Without a doubt this was the most important day yet. Today I have two games as usual, but against the #1 seed in the Junior, and a rematch against one of my previous Junior opponents in the Major. Winning both of these games would give me a great tournament position in both events, but stumbling would drop me into oblivion.
I just realized I haven't told you what I've been eating for breakfast! How careless of me. The wait is over, my pre-game breakfast has been.. drumroll please.. cereal and yogurt! I know you were waiting on the edge of your seats for the past few days to find out what fueled my brilliance, and now you know. 
Anyways, I should probably focus on the chess as well as granola! You'll recall that yesterday I drew Richard in the Junior tournament. Now I played the other top seed, 1966-rated Dion with 4.5 points. I wouldn't exactly say that I was nervous, but I was very cautious heading into the game. Adding to the mix was the fact that since I was half a point behind Richard, I needed to win to keep realistic chances of catching up alive.
I was happy with the result, even though it wasn't quite what I needed to stay in the chase for first. It should be noted that Dion is an experienced tournament player who sensationally won the 2024 Major Open when he was 14 (the youngest ever to do so), and has also represented New Zealand at the Under-16 Olympiad in Barranquilla, Columbia. It was my honour to play him, and maybe I'll get a rematch someday!
Now we go to the Major game in the afternoon. For the third time in the Congress, I played an opponent that I had played before, this time it's Ryan. I played Ryan waaaaaay back in Day 3, and I won after a crazy time scramble. It's unlikely that this game will go to time trouble, since we each have 90 minutes before move 40, but you never know. I had White again and was hunting for a win.
Good hunting! Another good win, GGs to Ryan for both of our games, and I'm on to Round 8 of the Major tied for first place with Aidan on 6/7 points.
I can't believe that the week has flown by this fast, but after today the Junior Championships will be over! There's one more game to play, and a win will give me at least a tie for second place, with possibly more.
My opponent in the final game was 1572-rated Jin, a tough opponent to face. I had White and was playing to win, but instead of playing 1.d4, I wanted to play 1.e4. It's been so long since I've played a good ol' fashioned Italian, which was the opening I grew up on, and it's time to resurrect that with one of the best games I've played in my life to date.
The hunting was good! If there was any game to play to get me back into 1.e4, that was it. What a game! GGs to Jin, good luck next time!
And with that, the New Zealand Junior Championships is over! Final results and standings can be found here. Skip to the Extra Photos section of this blog to see the winners!
With the Junior Championship over, I focused my attention on the final two games of the Major Open. Two wins in the final two games would give me at least a tie for first place, and that of course was my goal. Nothing comes easily, so the first order of business was winning the penultimate game.
The gentleman I played today was named Ron, rated 1682 FIDE. After a slow start to the tournament with 1.5/3 points, he burst into form with four straight wins and was now challenging for the top.
And that's a wrap! Brilliant hunting indeed! GGs to Ron, a good fight.
What a way to release the Tiger once more! It was awesome to relive the old times of a year ago when I would play that every single game with great results.
In other exciting news from this round, there was a significant upset in the standings and after the dust cleared I was once again the only player at the top, with 7/8 points. There was one person with 6.5 points, and then a few more with 6 and so, but that puts me on the cusp of winning the Major!
Take it one game at a time and slow down. It's not over until it's over, and the last thing I need now is an emotional approach to a game. In the final game, I need to play solid chess and finish this once and for all.
Without a Junior game to play in the morning, I took the opportunity to sleep a bit more and rest in anticipation of the game this afternoon. The chief arbiter Craig Hall was conducting a seminar on the topic of local chess tournaments and I decided to go along and see what I could learn.
The seminar was very informative and definitely something to keep in mind if I decide to become an official chess arbiter. I got some great notes, learned a bunch of stuff, and had fun hanging out with the extra time afforded me!
All too soon, it was time for the finale of the Major Open. My opponent was Elena, only rated 1547, but with 6.5 points which was half a point behind me. Elena lost in the first round but then scored a hat-trick of wins in a row followed by a draw, and then ripped off three more wins against opposition with an average rating of 1700. That set up a match where the winner takes first place, but in my case a draw would also seal the title.
I had the white pieces and was more nervous than I should have been. Looking back upon that day, there were many factors that heaped pressure on me, from the stakes of playing for first, to the pressure of being expected to win by rating and seeding.
You can imagine the whirlwind of emotions after the game.
After some reflection in the days since, I've found the saying of 'you never lose, you learn' to be very true. There were many things adding to the pressure, and not knowing how to deal with it ultimately affected my ability to play chess. And once things started to go downhill, I let the emotions of the match get to my head and I practically let myself get slaughtered.
None of this is to take away from Elena's performance, she played the better game and fully deserved to win both our match and the tournament.
Going forward, I'll make sure to be fully prepared mentally for every game in every round, and to focus on the 64 squares rather than the ramifications of a win or a loss.
And thus concludes the Major Open, which was still a very good tournament for me. I ended up placing second overall, tied with Aidan and my brother Jesse with 7/9 points. Elena won first place with 7.5/9. Final standings here, photos are in the Extra Photos section.
After all of the games finished, I went to the prizegiving banquet for a fancy dinner and the prizegiving ceremony, where I had some great conversations with some great people, received my prize and applauded the winners.
Day 10: Lightning chess against champions.
With classical chess out of the way, there was one more thing to focus on, one that happens to be my personal favorite. That of course is blitz! In New Zealand, the blitz championship is called the Lightning Chess Championship with a standard time control of 3+2, so it's exactly what I'm used to.
The one key difference between this blitz tournament and blitz chess in the US is that there are no 'double rounds'. The New Zealand Lightning Chess Championship is exactly the same format as the North Shore Lightning tournament that I played last month, with nine single rounds for the whole tournament.
I was looking forward to this event all week, ready to take down some strong players, maybe get a game against one of the GMs, and hopefully score high in the standings.
The tournament started well as I went 2/2 in my first two games. Round 3 is when the fireworks started.
My third game in the New Zealand Lightning Chess Championship 2026 was against Felix Xie. Once again, I played Felix and this was a fight of the ages. This time I had the white pieces and played some solid chess from start to finish. The opening was a solid Nimzo-Indian type structure, with a bishop on b7 and a c3 pawn for me. After we traded all of the pieces and queens, Felix ended up two pawns in a rook endgame, but his pawns weren't placed well and it was hard for Black to convert.
Then came the time trouble. For the last 20 or so moves both of us were down to seconds, frantically making moves as fast as we could while also trying to not to blunder. In the final position Felix pushed a pawn, and while I was deciding whether or not to take it, I flagged.
(This was the final position of the game when my clock ran out.)
What a game! It was incredibly fun to play Felix once more, and a loss to the best player in New Zealand isn't bad at all. I'm really happy that I gave him a great fight, and that I almost held him to a draw.
Next game was a tough one where I was worse for much of the game, but I got given one chance to strike back and I took it to the victory.
And then in Round 5 I was paired against a strong 1900 named Edward who was an extremely tough opponent. I fought against his Dutch defense and won a pawn but failed in a rook endgame where I 'switched' off for one move and blundered a pawn promotion.
Two more wins in a row after that set me up with 3/5, not bad but could have been better. The first win was more or less routine, against Aidan from the Major Open, but the second win was crazy. Against a strong player named Ryan, I sacrificed a full knight to open up the center from the white side of a Modern defense, and while it didn't win instantly, the attack soon became too much for him to handle.
After Ryan came William, the fourth-place finisher in the Championship tournament. I played a solid Caro-Kann game and sacrificed the exchange for a wicked attack against a pawn. But William held on and I wasn't able to break through, ultimately resulting in a draw.
And then in the final round, I got crushed by Justin, one of the stronger blitz players in the tournament who I had also played in the NSCC Lightning tournament. I sacrificed the exchange against him, but it didn't work and he quickly converted the win.
5.5/9 in the blitz, not bad since I was playing some of the best, but I feel that I could have done better. I missed a few chances to salvage a draw or a win, but I'm content with how it turned out. Final standings here, extra photos down below!
And with that, my time at the Congress was over!
So despite the last round loss in the Major Open, the Congress was a spectacular event for me. I went 5.5/7 in the Junior Championships with four wins and three draws, for a gain of 48 FIDE rating points. The Major Open was also good, 7/9 with 6 wins, two draws and one loss, for a gain of 56 rating on top of the 48 from the Junior. That sets up my FIDE rating to be 1909 when the monthly rating list gets updated in February.
My first international tournament went very well! It was a new chess culture to get used to, a first FIDE event overseas, and a great way to 'jump into the deep end' of tournaments!
This was also the first time during a tournament that factors off the board influenced me. With the pairings being announced hours in advance, preparation for each opponent is often important to many players, and a brief look at the opening of each player is almost always done.
Before my game against Richard in Round 5 of the Junior tournament, I was contacted by an anonymous account on chess.com who claimed to be a friend of Richard's. They wanted to find out what I was going to play the next morning against Richard, and the experience was unsettling, to say the least. There was also the matter of certain Discord chats that mentioned me... It's the first time I've been targeted in this manner, and it's something to keep in mind for the future.
I don't really like preparing for individual opponents, I would rather focus my energy on actual chess skills. I'll be keeping my focus on the 64 squares, as opposed to prepping or attempting to sneakily mess with people's heads outside of the playing hall.
All-in-all, this was a great learning experience for me, not the least of which was learning to be gracious during a loss and respectful during a win. 😃
So in conclusion, there are many things to work on, but the future is bright, and the road to National Master will continue.
Have a great day and a wonderful start to 2026!
-@theeldest1 / Ethan Harrison
And just to put a nice bow on it all, here are some extra photos from the event. Enjoy!
My friend @VOB96 wrote a recap of the entire Congress! Check it out down below!
Check out my other tournament recaps:
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/i-beat-the-new-zealand-chess-champion
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/i-got-my-first-national-chess-title
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/i-played-the-northern-open-two-years-later
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/a-monument-of-minnesota-chess-the-roger-hale-open
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/i-played-the-125th-us-open
- https://www.chess.com/blog/theeldest1/the-minnesota-state-championship-the-return-and-the-glory
