The Bob Wade Memorial Masters and Challengers chess tournaments begin in Howick on Saturday.
Organiser and vice president of the New Zealand Chess Federation Paul Spiller, of the Howick Pakuranga Chess Club, said the competition will run until Friday, January 20.
There will be three round robin 10-player events. The Masters will be an International Masters ‘norm’ event with invited Grandmasters (GM) and International Masters. The Challengers A and B events will be made up of New Zealand and overseas players in two equal-playing strength groups.
“Unfortunately GM Joey Antonio is not well enough to travel and has had to withdraw,” said Spiller.
“I will be making a couple of late replacements into the Masters’ group.
“Also there may be a couple of late entries into the Challengers B section.”
The tournaments will be held at the new Howick EHPC [E-Sports High Performance Centre] at 116 Picton Street, Howick. It is part of the Picton Centre.
The prize money is split as follows:
Masters 1st $1500; 2nd $1000; 3rd $750; 4th $500; 5th $250.
Challengers A & B 1st $200; 2nd $150; 3rd $100; 4th $50 + book prizes.
