AFTER a life spent playing and serving the age-old pursuit of chess, Howick Chess Club member Paul Spiller has become the first from his club to be elected president of the New Zealand Chess Federation.
From his new position, Mr Spiller says he hopes to continue developing New Zealand chess juniors and to gain more government recognition for the game, which is associated with the New Zealand Olympic Committee but receives no government funding.
He’ll also help organise around 25 chess events to be held in New Zealand each year, including international competitions.
Mr Spiller says the popularity of chess among young people faces some serious competition from computer gaming and its lucrative prize money, but he feels positive about the future of chess in New Zealand.
“It looks very promising. We have a number of talented young players,” says Mr Spiller, heralding the talents of 18 year old Puchen Wang who is now aiming to become New Zealand’s second Grandmaster.
When US player Bobby Fischer hit the world scene in the early 1970s, the number of chess players worldwide doubled, and 10 year old Paul Spiller was one of the newcomers.
Since then, he’s played competitions in South America, Malta, Malaysia and China, and has organised countless events here in New Zealand.
He’s the only New Zealander to be recognised as an International Chess Organiser by the World Chess Federation.
Locally, he served as Howick Chess Club’s president for 12 years.
With around 30 clubs active across the country, Mr Spiller says chess has a lot to recommend it.
“It takes a lot of skills: discipline, strategy and planning skills you can apply to other areas. But it’s also an international language – you can travel anywhere in the world and meet people.”
