Dear Go Players,

Here are the full details of our coming tournament - Auckland Open 2025. Let's spend a weekend with friends enjoying Go. Click here to register online.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again!   

2025 Auckland Go Open  

The 2025 Auckland Open Tournament, will be held on the weekend of September 20th & 21st 

The tournament will be held in person. The venue will be at Systems Advisory Services (SAS) in Greenlane, very central and easy to get to. Everyone who wants to attend is welcome - there are no restrictions on nationality.

The tournament will have two divisions 

• Open Even games for strong players, winner will be the Auckland
  Champion!

• Division 2 Even games for mid strength players and for weaker players who
  want to test themselves
  Limited to players 1 dan and below on the NZGS ranking list 

Lunch will be supplied on both days. Coffee, tea, fruit and other snacks will be available throughout the tournament.  

Divisions

Open: Our premier division.

Open to all, but recommended for strong players. The winner becomes Auckland Champion,  receives the certificate that goes along with the position, a nice little cash prize and, of course, the bragging rights.

Six rounds will be played. Three on Saturday and three on Sunday. May the best player triumph!

Division 2

For players not strong enough to compete in the Open division but who still want to test themselves with even games under the same conditions as the Open division players. The maximum rank for people in Division 2 is 1 dan.

Venue

Systems Advisory Services (SAS) 520 Gt South Rd Greenlane  (Corner of Gt South Rd and Woodbine Ave)

The entry is off Woodbine Ave, Ring the doorbell if no-one is there. Go upstairs and turn right. 

Players outside of Auckland

This is an in-person tournament.  If you are outside Auckland then please come!  We can arrange billeting if necessary.

Anyone is allowed to enter the tournament. To win NZGS points you need to have a New Zealand passport or New Zealand permanent Visa - regardless of whether you are resident. 

Entry Fee

Please register in advance and pay by bank transfer. (see Registration below for how to pay)

• $25 if pre-registered

• $5 more for people who don’t pre-register and just walk up on the day.

• $10 less if not earning. 

Prizes 

There will be cash prizes, we will announce the exact amounts when we know the number of players in the tournament.

So that everyone can truly aim at winning a prize, we again have ‘plates’ within each division.  Each plate will receive prizes as well as the tournament winners. Here is how it works. 

• After the first round we have two groups - Winners and Losers (W & L).
• After the second round there are four groups: WW, WL, LW and LL.
• The WW group, where players won their first two games, is where the tournament winner and runner up are most likely to come from. 
• The WL, LW and LL groups are the ‘Plate’ divisions 1-3.
• The division winner, division runner up and the winner of each division plate will receive a prize.
• If there are enough entries in the division, there will also be prizes for division third place and plate runners up.
• 20 or more in the division and there will be a third place prize
• 5 or more in a plate and there will be a second place prize   
• It is possible for the tournament winner or runner not to come from the WW group. In this case the player will only receive one prize, the highest they are eligible for.
• For the purpose of assigning players to plates 1-3, byes are treated as a loss.
• In round 2, if a first round loser has to play a first round winner they will be assigned to plate 2 (LW) regardless of the result of the match.

The plate groups make no difference to how players are matched for their games as the tournament progresses.

Final ranking will be determined by number of wins, direct result and SOS.

Number of wins is 1 for each game won. Draws count as half. Games that were not played may count as 1, ½ or 0 depending on the circumstances, the tournament director will decide.

Direct result: If two players with equal numbers of wins have played each other, the winner is ranked higher.

SOS: Sum of opponent's scores. The total number of wins of a player's opponents. Higher is better.. 

 Conditions

The Open Division and Division 2 have 6 rounds, 3 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. 

• A Swiss draw will be used. 

• No two players will meet more than once.

• Players on the same score will be matched in each round as far as this is possible.

• Players from different cities will be matched where possible.

Playing conditions

• New Zealand rules will be used.

• ‘Fisher’ time control will be used. In the Open division and Division 2, each player will start with 20 minutes and will gain an additional 20 seconds after each move they make. (Most games have about 250 moves, 125 each. So each player will have 20 minutes plus 125 x 20 seconds - 62 minutes in total) 
  
  

• We are using Fisher time control because:

• It is more forgiving when you run short of time (you can play a few fast moves and get some time back) 

• It does not have the abrupt change of conditions that happens now when you go into byo-yomi. 

• It stops people from taking longer than the time scheduled for a round, which can happen with our traditional time controls.  

Accommodation:

People coming from outside of Auckland are invited to stay with local players. Please let us know well in advance if you want to do this.

Timetable:  

On Saturday please arrive before 8:45 so we have time to complete registration and make the draw.

Saturday 20th September 

09:00 - 09:45 Registration

09:45 - 12:00 Round 1

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch (Provided)

13:00 - 15:15 Round 2

15:15 - 17:30 Round 3

18:00 - Dinner at a nearby restaurant (optional)

Sunday 21st September

09:00 - 11:15 Round 4

11:15 - 12:00 Auckland Go Society AGM

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch (Provided)

12:30 - 14:45 Round 5

14:45 - 17:00 Round 6

17:15 - 18:00 Prizegiving

Dinner on Saturday

This is optional and not included in the entry price. For those who want to join, we will have dinner together at a nearby restaurant on Saturday night.  PLEASE RSVP EITHER WAY.

Contacts and Registration

If you have any questions, or trouble registering, please contact one of the organisers

• Corrin Lakeland  Ph 021 467784 Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Colin Grierson Ph 022 1656413 Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  
  

Registration

Please register and pay your entry fee well in advance so we can get as much as possible organised before the tournament starts.

• If you don’t register in advance you can still come along and register on Saturday morning - but the tournament entry fee will be $5 more.
   

Click here to register online. If you can’t do this please send details to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Your name

• Your playing strength/NZGS Number if you have one

• Which division you want to play in

• Your contact details - Phone, Email and address

• If you are coming to the venue can you bring a laptop or tablet that can be used for remote games?

• If you need accommodation in Auckland

• If you are a New Zealand citizen or if you hold a permanent New Zealand visa (we need this information for calculating our points table for international tournaments)

• Any special requirements that you have
  
  

To pay your entry fee please transfer the money to 03-0149-0095693-000 or if you are overseas it might be easier to send it to Paypal account This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

• Important! Put your name on the bank transfer reference so we know who has paid. Or in Paypal add your name as a comment.
  
  

You can also pay by cash when you arrive, but paying in advance will make registration on the day easier.

That’s it. I hope to see you at the tournament.