Check mates plot their next international move

ROSS GIBLIN/ The Dominion Post

NO STALEMATE: Gawain Jones with fiancee Sue Maroroa from Auckland. Mr Jones will be displaying his chess skills at games in Wellington on Saturday.

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Chess grandmaster Gawain Jones has traded in tournaments to put the winning moves on his Kiwi queen.

Mr Jones, 21, from Yorkshire, met Sue Maroroa, 18, about a year ago through mutual friends on social networking website Facebook. They courted in 10-hour online video-calls.

Ms Maroroa, who grew up in Auckland, is a women's international chess master, but the couple say they rarely talk about their shared passion for the game.

"We don't like playing each other – last time we challenged, he offered me a draw, and I thought it was because I was losing and he was just being nice, but he was actually losing. I told him off for that one," Ms Maroroa said.

In 1997 Mr Jones became the youngest player in the world to beat an international master in an official tournament game.

His chess career gives him the freedom to go wherever he likes, so when he decided to propose to Ms Maroroa, he did not let the fact that she lived on the other side of the world stop him. They were staying in a Christchurch hotel just a couple of months after they met, when he popped the question.

"It was when I was going back to Europe, and she said yes and then I had to go away," he said.

But he returned as soon as he could arrange his visa. They plan to live in Wellington while Ms Maroroa completes a nannying course.

They will then move to Europe so Mr Jones can fulfil his next goal – making it into the world's top 100 chess players. This Saturday he will play more than 30 simultaneous games against members of the public, at the Museum of Wellington City and Sea's 10th birthday celebrations.

Both Mr Jones and Ms Maroroa have travelled extensively to compete in top-level competitions and say chess is a great way to see the world.

The couple have already decided against a chess-themed wedding, though they have yet to set a date.

"We went to a friend's wedding and the groom had a chess problem on top of his cake, and they spent about half an hour debating it," Ms Maroroa said.

- © Fairfax NZ News