The association, refounded in 1892, conducts the annual championship, usually held in the Christmas – New Year period.
The Australian master C. J. S. Purdy stated in 1955 that New Zealand holds the record for annual tournaments for a national chess championship.
[1] New Zealand was one of the earliest countries to make use of telegraphic interclub chess as a method of play.
The first interclub match was played between Canterbury and Otago in 1869.
The Bledisloe Cup, presented by the Governor-General in 1933, was until recently competed for annually in this way.