Top international tournament coming to town
Imogen Crispe 10th January 2011

An international chess tournament will be held in Rotorua in the last week of January, attracting two chess Grandmasters from Australia.

The Oceania Zone World Chess Championship qualification tournament will be hosted by the New Zealand Chess Federation from January 25 to 31 at Rotorua’s Millennium Hotel.

President of the New Zealand Chess Federation Paul Spiller said about 70 players would come to Rotorua for the competition from countries in the Oceania Zone – Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Palau.

Winners of the tournament will be eligible to compete in the World Championship knockout competition against top chess players from around the world.

This is the first time this tournament has been held in Rotorua and Mr Spiller said he chose Rotorua for its tourism appeal. “I wanted to choose a city where there was a tourism aspect so players coming could experience a cultural aspect of New Zealand.”

The last Oceania Zone tournament was in Australia in 2009 and New Zealand last hosted it in Auckland in 2005.

Mr Spiller said some of the players would be flying direct to Rotorua from Australia.

Mamaku chess teacher Rick Loos is not competing but is excited about the tournament coming to Rotorua.

“That’s cool to see something of that calibre in Rotorua,” he said.

Full article here.