Varga is competing in the open men's 110kg class and will need to lift more than his personal best 205kg to to win the gold medal.
He faces opposition from Leon O'Connor, Jared Bradbury and Steve Macaskill.
"These guys are bench press specialists and will be tough to beat," Varga said.
"But it is on the day. My training form has been good going into the championships."
Varga (36) won his third national powerlifting title at the New Zealand championships in Dunedin in April.
He has a personal best for the bench press of 207.5kg and expects to better this weight, as he has been working on a new grip.
Varga won the New Zealand powerlifting title in the 110kg class in 2004, the 100kg class two years later and the 110kg class this year.
He also won a gold medal in the 100kg at the Commonwealth event in Christchurch last December and a bronze medal at the Oceania championships in Fiji in 2004.
One to watch at the championships will be power man Reuben Simanu (Hamilton), who hits the scales at 160kg and will contest the over 125kg class.
He has lifted a remarkable 305kg and holds the New Zealand and Oceania bench press records.
There are 55 lifters competing at the championships at the Mosgiel Olympic Gymnasium.
It is the second time the event has been held in Dunedin.
It will be a special championships for lifters trying to qualify for the world championships, to be held in Taupo next year.
Four New Zealand representatives will be competing in the women's open event, with the favourites expected to be Invercargill's Sonia Manaena and Jackie Buckley-Grey in the 90kg class.
Buckley-Grey holds a world masters record.
The other serious women contenders are Tania Green (Ashburton) in the 60kg class and Trish Muldrock (Northland) in the 48kg class.
Muldrock holds a world masters record.
Manaena, Buckley-Grey and Tuilua Sekone-Fraser (Invercargill) will be competing in the world open powerlifting championships in Canada next month.
Dunedin's Becky Soffe, a New Zealand junior representative, is expected to dominate the junior women's 75kg event.
Dunedin pastor Peter Tuisano, who holds a Commonwealth and Oceania record, is returning to the sport after a gap of three years and is expected to dominate the masters events in the heavyweight class.
Toso Ieti (Canterbury) is a gold medal contender in the 100kg class, and Steve Lousish (Auckland), who won a gold medal in the bench press at the world masters championships in Palm Springs, California, last month, the 110kg class.
Waikato lifters Ted Anderson and Trish Buckman also competed in Palm Springs.
Buckman won a bronze medal in the 67.5kg bench press.
Marie Soffe (Dunedin), the director for the championships at the weekend, finished fourth in the masters women's deadlift with 177.5kg in the 67.5kg class in California.
The championship timetable at the Mosgiel gymnasium is: open and juniors (10am), women (11.30am), masters (1pm).
