Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club has organised the NZCF East Auckland Interschool Chess Championships since 2023. Here are the 2026 results from all three sections. Medals for 1st–3rd are engraved with students’ names and sent to schools early in Term 3.
Secondary
Held on Wednesday 17 June at the Bucklands & Eastern Beach War Memorial Hall, with 17 teams of secondary students from 4 East Auckland schools. For the first time in many years, the results repeated the previous year’s.
Special mentions: Eden Li (Pakuranga College alumnus), who recruited Auckland University Chess Club volunteers and helped with set-up, pack-down and arbiting; Lucas Xiao (Macleans College alumnus) for set-up, pack-down and arbiter duties; and Alex Postma (Papatoetoe Chess Club), Chief Arbiter for this and the other East Auckland interschool events.
- Macleans College Team A — Ziyi (Charlie) Huang, Ziyu (Zoey) Huang, Alex Pan, Kelvin Wang, Minh Nguyen
- St Kentigern College Team A — Annie Yue, Anderson Chen, David Lai, Andrew Li, Isaac Wang
- Macleans College Team B — Dian Guan, Benjamin Chai, Oliver Zhao, Harvey Zhang, Jonathan Xia
The winning team advances to the National Finals in Auckland on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026 (registration per NZCF Interschool Rules 2026, section 2.13).
| Board | Score | Winner(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Board 1 | 5.5/6 | Ziyi (Charlie) Huang, Macleans College A; Jett Chung, Pakuranga College D |
| Board 2 | 6/6 | Ziyu (Zoey) Huang, Macleans College A |
| Board 3 | 6/6 | Kelvin Wang, Macleans College A |
| Board 4 | 5/6 | Jerry Wang, Macleans College C; Alex Pan, Macleans College A |
Intermediate
17 teams of intermediate students from 5 East Auckland schools, held on an EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) day at Somerville Intermediate School.
Special mentions: the students, parents and teachers of Somerville Intermediate School, who set up and packed down the hall — students welcomed visiting students and set up the pieces; and Lukas van Batenberg (Papatoetoe Chess Club, Bucklands Beach Intermediate), who checked and meticulously reset every tournament clock — an arbiter or tournament organiser in the making.
- Bucklands Beach Intermediate School Team A — Isaac Lobo, Oliver Lin, Vincent Yam, Jeremy Wang
- Somerville Intermediate School Team A — Olivia Li, Jaden Jhia Xing Lee, Alexander Lee, Ahana Gupta
- St Kentigern College Team A — Hannah Chen, Oscar Wang, Kian Lovell, Jeremy Li, Kaden Chen
| Board | Score | Winner(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Board 1 | 5.5/6 | Olivia Li, Somerville Intermediate A |
| Board 2 | 5.5/6 | Oliver Lin, Bucklands Beach Intermediate A; Jaden Jhia Xing Lee, Somerville Intermediate A |
| Board 3 | 5.5/6 | Kian Lovell, Saint Kentigern College A |
| Board 4 | 6/6 | Jeremy Wang, Bucklands Beach Intermediate A |
Primary
38 teams from 16 East Auckland schools played at Point View Primary School. At primary level the top three teams all qualify for the National Finals.
- Pigeon Mountain Primary School Team A — Chu Yang Liu, Hayden Meng, Jeffrey Wang, Kayley Lin
- Willowbank School Team A — Jasper Zhang, Matthew Li, Weslynn Yu, Kimi Jin
- Cockle Bay Primary School Team A — Jeremy Wang, Oscar Yan, Max Man, Aden Mak, Caleb Xiong
| Board | Score | Winner(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Board 1 | 6/6 | Oscar Wang, Wakaaranga School A; Ethan Wang, Our Lady Star of the Sea School A; Rex Zhao, Botany Downs Primary A |
| Board 2 | 6/6 | Hayden Meng, Pigeon Mountain Primary A |
| Board 3 | 6/6 | Ziheng Wang, Mission Heights Primary C |
| Board 4 | 6/6 | Kimi Jin, Willowbank School A; Miles Hong, Point View School B |
Thank you
A huge thank-you to everyone behind the scenes: the parents and friends of Point View Primary for set-up and pack-down; Dorothy Zhang for organising parent help; Anthony Xu for furniture set-up; Lincoln Xu for setting up pieces and organising students; Aiden and Alex and their parents for table and board numbers; Ava Tang for setting clocks the night before; Olivia and Shane Lee and their parents for setting up pieces; Gopi for furniture set-up; Kayley’s mum for the HPCC equipment count; Max, visiting from Canada, for furniture set-up; Tony Booth and Barry Hooton for clocks and carting equipment; Paul Spiller and Matthew Gosling for registration payment reporting; Suee Lee Maroroa and Katrine McCarthy (Papatoetoe Chess Club) for carting tables; Alex Postma for the registration portal, tables, equipment and clocks; and arbitering helpers Shirley Yang, Scott Dean, Chris and Matt.
The NZCF Interschool Rules 2026 (PDF) cover National Finals registration.
