New Zealand has started a series of interschool qualification events in its primary and secondary Schools to select teams to compete in the national interschools finals later in the year.
One of these was held in east Auckland today Monday 24th May with over 200 young players competing in the East Auckland Primary teams Championship, one of several qualification events being held.
This was a record turnout and was organised by husband and wife team of FM Bob Smith and his wife WFM Viv Smith on behalf of the New Zealand Chess Federation, both long serving members of the New Zealand chess community and both former New Zealand champions. They both received recognition for service to chess at the Asian Chess Summit in 2016.
Overall winner was Pigeon Mountain Primary School, which has won the tournament on several previous occasions.
Report by Paul Spiller