A six-person team competed at the ChessPower National Finals last weekend.
The event was held in Auckland — however, the Waitaki team played their matches from the school’s library.
Chess is able to played online through the tournament management tool, tornelo.com.
"For us, it was better just to come in and we’ll compete online and there will be other schools competing online," teacher in charge Greg Familton said.
The team had enjoyed a successful 2025 season to get to the finals.
They won both the Oamaru and Temuka regional competitions to qualify for the national finals, as well as being shared winners of the Otago Junior U20 Chess Championships with Logan Park High School.
The team took the national title with a score of 25.5 points, beating James Hargest College, who were close behind on 23.5 points.
"The senior division was a nail-biter, with the lead changing between Waitaki Boys High School, James Hargest College, and Aotea College.
"Staying focused for the full nine games was key," Mr Familton said.
Alongside the national team event, Waitaki Boys’ captain Paul Gudoy, Sean Balbalin and Donovan Hamelink also competed in the championship individual trophy competitions.
All three had to finish in the top three at a regional competition individually to compete.
Each played seven matches across the two-day event.
It ended with two Waitaki boys in the final game, Paul Gudoy beating Caleb MacDonald, from St Kevin’s College, to become national champion.
Mr Familton said the result topped off a "fantastic" weekend.
Chess had been growing year-on-year at the school, he said.
"There’s quite a depth of chess in the school.
"There was a competition that was for year 10s and below, when we had that competition I think we had 27 players from the school playing chess."
It was a great game for a number of reasons, he said.
"Chess is really good for building up interpersonal skills and just coping with winning and losing.
"Also, we’re quite often playing against the same players over again so the boys build up relationships with players from other schools."
