The New Zealand Chess Federation is a chess federation in New Zealand.
The first chess club in New Zealand was formed in September 1863 in Dunedin, while the New Zealand Chess Association came into being in the 1870s. The association, refounded in 1892, conducts the annual championship, usually held in the Christmas – New Year period. The Australian master, C. J. S. Purdy, stated in 1955 that New Zealand holds the record for annual tourneys for a national chess championship.
New Zealand was one of the earliest countries to make use of telegraphic interclub chess as a method of play. Christchurch beat Nelson in two consultation games in 1866. The first interclub match was played between Canterbury and Otago in 1869. The Bledisloe Cup, presented by the Governor-General in 1933, was until recently competed for annually in this way.
Officers of New Zealand Chess Federation Inc.
- Postal Address PO Box 216, Shortland Street, Auckland, New Zealand
- Patron Jim Benson
- Vice-patrons Graham Haase, Bill Poole, George Trundle
- Life Members Peter Stuart, Bob Smith, Viv Smith, Ari Nijman, Gordon Hoskyn, Ted Frost
- President Paul Spiller
- Vice-president Peter Stuart
- Secretary Bob Mitchell
- Treasurer Anthony Whitehouse
- Councillors (Auckland) Murray Chandler, Michael Steadman, Helen Milligan, Bob Gibbons
- Councillors (Regional) Quentin Johnson, Michael Freeman, Craig Hall, Ross Jackson, Hilton Bennett
- Rules Revision Peter Stuart
- Tournament Paul Spiller, Hilton Bennett, Peter Stuart, Bob Gibbons
- Junior Michael Steadman, Quentin Johnson, Jacinta Buist, Gary Judkins, Martin Sims, Craig Hall
- Sponsorship and Publicity Paul Spiller, Murray Chandler, Michael Steadman
- Ratings Peter Stuart, Bob Gibbons (Rating Administrator), Rowan Wood (Rating Officer), Michael Freeman (FIDE)
- Grand Prix Bob Smith, Hilton Bennett, Helen Milligan
- Women's Chess Gerri Judkins, Jacinta Buist
- Registrar of Master Points Bob Mitchell
- Editor, NZ Chess Magazine Alan Aldridge
- Selectors Michael Freeman, Bob Gibbons, Scott Wastney, Richard Sutton
- Delegate to FIDE Michael Freeman
Famous quotes containing the words zealand, chess and/or federation:
“Teasing is universal. Anthropologists have found the same fundamental patterns of teasing among New Zealand aborigine children and inner-city kids on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Work, as we usually think of it, is energy expended for a further end in view; play is energy expended for its own sake, as with children’s play, or as manifestation of the end or goal of work, as in “playing” chess or the piano. Play in this sense, then, is the fulfillment of work, the exhibition of what the work has been done for.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
“Women realize that we are living in an ungoverned world. At heart we are all pacifists. We should love to talk it over with the war-makers, but they would not understand. Words are so inadequate, and we realize that the hatred must kill itself; so we give our men gladly, unselfishly, proudly, patriotically, since the world chooses to settle its disputes in the old barbarous way.”
—General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)