Chanderpaul's 122 not out, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar's record and putting him sixth on the all-time scorers' list, left the tourists at 367 all out before New Zealand finished day two of the third Test on 156 for 3.
Ross Taylor, seeking his third century in as many Tests, was on 56 and Brendon McCullum was on 11 after New Zealand lost openers Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton cheaply.
Taylor stood in a 95-run partnership with Kane Williamson (58), the second victim for Sunil Narine who was called into the side after Shane Shillingford's ban for an illegal action.
The many variations in the twin spin assault of Narine and Veerasammy Permaul caused multiple problems for the New Zealand batsmen, who struggled to read the turning ball.
Williamson, playing on his home wicket, said the spin was not expected when New Zealand won the toss.
"That’s why we bowled first,” he said. “I've never seen it spin like that but that's the card we've been dealt.”
But the real honours for the West Indies lay with Chanderpaul, who came to the rescue and rewrote the record books into the bargain when the tourists were in trouble at 86 for 5 on the first day.
"We talk about what we're going to do and how we're going to execute our plans and I was really happy that we were able to do it," he said.
"I wish we had a wicket as good as this in the Caribbean but we don't."
Chanderpaul's 122 not out lifted him to 11,199 runs from his 153 Tests, overtaking Allan Border (11,174) as the sixth most prolific run-scoring Test batsmen, and 754 behind fifth-placed Brian Lara.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
What a player Shiv is
The saying 'slow and steady wins the race' best suited for him.