Sue Maroroa

Sue Yuchan Maroroa Jones (4 March 1991 – 11 May 2023) was a New Zealand-English chess player who held the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM). She represented New Zealand in five Chess Olympiads and England at the 2014 Chess Olympiad.

Career Maroroa started playing chess when she was 10 years old. She played at the Auckland Chess Club and was taught by local player Ian McNally. She later went on to play at the Papatoetoe and Howick-Pakuranga chess clubs as well.

At the age of 11, she represented New Zealand at the 35th Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia, in 2002, Her third-place finish, again scoring 6/9, at the 2009 Oceania Women's Zonal Chess Championship on the Gold Coast, Queensland earned her the Woman International Master (WIM) title. During this time Maroroa was playing club chess in London, and was for a number of years the strongest player at Hammersmith Chess Club in West London.

Maroroa represented New Zealand in the five Chess Olympiads from 2002 to 2012. Her best result was in 2010 when she scored 6/9, without loss, in the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

In October 2012, she transferred chess federations to represent England. In 2014, she achieved an International Master norm in the Four Nations Chess League. Her performance included a win against Grandmaster Mark Hebden.

Personal life and death Sue Yuchan Maroroa was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to a Cook Islander father and a Chinese-Malaysian mother. Since 2010, Maroroa had been living in the United Kingdom. In June 2012, she married leading British Grandmaster Gawain Jones. She lived in Sheffield and played rugby for Sheffield Ladies RUFC.

On 11 May 2023, Maroroa died at the age of 32 from complications following the birth of her second child.

Notable games

Sue Maroroa – Samuel Franklin, Sunningdale Open (2010), Sicilian Defence: Closed Variation (B23), 1-0