A Dunedin chess team has pulled off an upset to reclaim a national trophy after more than three decades.
The Otago Chess Club beat tournament favourite Wellington on Sunday to win the chess version of the Bledisloe Cup.
Otago last claimed the trophy in 1989 before the competition went into hiatus in the 1990s.
Club secretary Brent Southgate said the prize had a history stretching back nearly a century.
“It was while Lord Bledisloe was Governor-General, in 1933, Southgate said.
“As well as doing the rugby cup, he also donated one for these chess tournaments.
“They are tournaments between the major centres.”
The cities eligible to contest the Bledisloe Cup were Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch.
In past decades, teams of six played telegraphic interclub matches on up to 24 boards using telex machines and later telephone lines.
The competition was relaunched in 2024 in an updated format that replaced landlines with laptops connected to an online platform.
The capital team won the revived event in 2024 and 2025 and was expected to perform well again this year.
“Wellington were definitely the strongest team on paper, so Otago’s win was quite unexpected.”
Southgate said rival centres had talented players, though every club faced the same rapid time controls.
“Anything can happen, as you know.”
The winning Dunedin team comprised Iain Lamont, Quentin Johnson, Oscar Lobb, Jonno Christie, Rogan-Joe Sloan and Romero Suggate.