Titled Players

Living New Zealand FIDE titled players. These international titles are awarded by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, based on meritorious performance in international events. There is a fee charged by FIDE before a title is awarded. The current policy of NZCF is to pay the fee on behalf of New Zealand players who qualify for GM, IM, FM, WGM, WIM and WFM titles. NZCF does not cover the cost of CM or WCM titles – this is up to individual players, should they wish to accept the award. Please report any omissions or other errors to the Web Administrator (see Contact Us page)

Grandmasters (GM)

Murray Chandler

International Masters (IM)

Puchen Wang
Anthony Ker
Russell Dive
Paul Garbett
Ben Martin
Vernon Small
Tom Middelburg
Sravan Renjith

FIDE Masters (FM)

Ben Hague
Luke Li
Alexei Kulashko
Nicolas Croad
Bruce Watson
Daniel Gong
Michael Steadman
Robert Smith
Mark Noble
Leonard McLaren
Stephen Lukey
Robert Gibbons
Scott Wastney
Roger Nokes
Martin Dreyer
Jonathan Sarfati
Peter Green
Ewen Green
Anthony Love
Alan Ansell
Alphaeus Ang
Allen Fan
John Duneas
Felix Xie
Daqi Mao
Ollie Archer

Candidate Masters (CM)

Jack James
Paul Spiller
Alex Nagorski
Michael Freeman
Leo Zhang
Richard Taylor
John Stark (Gino)
Edward Rains
Benjamin Lim
Richard Meng
Oliver Picken
Bruce Wheeler
Alex Huang
Tony Dowden
Helen Milligan
Stanley Yee
Bill Forster
Don Eade
Ivan Dordevic
Timothy Rains
Kendrick Zhang
Hao Tang
Lee, Miles
Qin, Oscar Shu Xuan
Liu, William Rui
Nicholls, Leighton
Shen, Daniel
Wang, Tony
Young, Cohen
Yu, Zachary
Zhang, William Jie Wen
Ning, Isabelle Yixuan

Woman International Masters (WIM)

Layla Timergazi
Marany Meyer
Jasmine Zhang

Woman FIDE Masters (WFM)

Braganza, Nadia
Chang, Yolanda
Fairley, Natasha
Gao, Judy
Punsalan, Vyanla M
Smith, Vivian J
Tsoi, Nicole

Woman Candidate Masters (WCM)

Chen, Eachen
Feng, Sophia
Gan, Emily Cathay
Ghadiali, Renae
Lourenco, Eva
Lu, Xiahan (Luna)
Qin, Joy Shu Yan
Qin, Nicole Shu Yu
Song, Kate
Sun, Wanyao Sarah
Wu, Shirley
Xu, Luna Yuexiu
Isabelle Ning

National Masters

The New Zealand National Master title is an official title awarded by the New Zealand Chess Federation. To apply for the title players need to score a total of 100 Master points in events in New Zealand. Players who reach 40 Master Points are automatically awarded the New Zealand Candidate Master title.

Once achieved the titles are valid for life. The regulations (last updated 7th July 2019) can be seen here.

The most recent NZ Master points calculation (last update 31st January 2025) is here, this version only includes active players.

Thanks to Quentin Johnson for maintaining the National Master register. A full database with active/inactive/deceased masters is available on Google Docs.

National Masters

Anderson, Bruce R (Christchurch)
Ang, Alphaeus (Auckland) (qualified 8Feb2021)
Chandler, Murray G (Auckland)
Croad, Nicolas E (Wellington)
Dive, Russell J (Wellington)
Dowden, R Anthony (Tasmania)
Dreyer, Martin P (Auckland)
Garbett, Paul A (North Shore)
Gong, Daniel (Auckland)
Green, Ewen M (Auckland)
Green, Peter R (North Shore)
Hague, Ben (Wanganui)
Ker, Anthony F (Wellington)
Kulashko, Alexei (Auckland)
Lukey, Stephen G (Christchurch)
Martin, Benjamin MS (Christchurch)
McLaren, Leonard J (Auckland)
Nokes, Roger I (Christchurch)
Small, Vernon A (Wellington)
Smith, Robert W (Tauranga)
Spain, Graeme A (Te Awamutu)
Steadman, Michael VR (Auckland)
Wang, Puchen (Auckland)
Wastney, Scott C (Wellington)
Xie, Felix (Auckland)

Candidate National Masters

Bennett, Hilton P (Hamilton)
Cornford, Lindsay H (Auckland)
Johnson, Quentin JF (Dunedin)
Li, Zuhao Luke (Australia)
Love, Anthony J (Dunedin)
Noble, Mark F (Feilding)
Shen, Daniel (Auckland)
Watson, Bruce R (Auckland)
Thornton, Gino (Auckland)
McNabb, Matthew D (Christchurch)
McKenzie, Peter (Auckland)
Rains, Edward (Christchurch)
Cilia Vincenti, David (Wellington)