The South Island Chess Championships will be held in Oamaru in September.
It will be the first major chess tournament held in the town since 1957 when it hosted the same tournament.
Otago Chess member Greg Familton said he is "really excited" to see the event come to town.
"[The Otago Chess Club] were talking about where we could hold this competition. So, Oamaru came up and I jumped at the opportunity."
The South Island Chess Championships is the second-biggest tournament of its kind in the country and has been held annually since 1950, he said.
Mr Familton is a teacher at Waitaki Boys’ High School and frequently takes pupils to tournaments across the South Island.
He is looking forward to those pupils being able to test their skills against the best.
"It’s an opportunity for the school kids at Waitaki Boys’ and the other schools around here to all be involved and see some of the top players in New Zealand all here in Oamaru."
It was actually a pupil at the school that inspired Mr Familton get back into playing.
"I played chess when at high school, but haven’t played much since then until a Waitaki Boys’ student challenged me to a game. I didn’t want to lose, so I did a little study. That led me to playing in several tournaments."
The only other major tournament to be held in Oamaru was the New Zealand Chess Championships in 1905.
Disappointingly, in that event, the Oamaru representative finished last out of 14 players, he said.
The five-day tournament will be hosted at the Brydone Hotel with adults and school pupils competing.
The competition is open to all and Mr Familton hopes to see a large local contingent taking part.
"I would love as many Oamaru players as possible to get involved" he said.
To help them prepare, the newly formed Oamaru Chess Club will begin holding weekly games in the coming weeks.
Anyone interested should go to the Oamaru Chess Club Facebook page for information, he said.
