Poppies Chess Challenge 2025

The much-anticipated Poppies Chess Challenge happened last Saturday morning at Poppies Book Store in Howick. This edition of the annual event featured two of New Zealand’s most promising young stars, FM Daqi Mao and CM William Liu.

After six hotly-contested, nerve-wrecking blitz games, Daqi narrowly came out on top, defeating William 3.5-2.5.

A massive thank you to the Middle Game Chess Foundation and Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club for organising, Poppies Book Store for again allowing the use of their store, MP Simeon Brown for giving a brief speech, and the young players for an impressive match. We look forward to following their progress in the future!

Photos by Weiyang Yu