The chess community celebrated its 30th Anniversary of the FIDE World Senior Championship last month for chess players who are over 50 years old! Italy was very generous to host the event for the eighth time. After the tournaments in Arco (2001 and 2010), Lignano Sabbiadoro (2005), Arvier (2006), Condino (2009), Acqui Terme (2015 and 2017), Assisi, the capital of Umbria, a small town in the heart of Italy, was happy to organize the 30th edition of the tournament this year.
This tournament which coincided with Thanksgiving Holidays this year (it ran from 11/15 through 11/27) was conducted impeccably: in a truly professional manner with the luxurious reglament - 11 games, 1 game per day with 1 free day, with the time control of 90 min for the first 40 moves (+30 sec increment) and half-hour to finish the game afterwards. All the games started at 15:00 every day which was very convenient for every participant.
The event, which was organized by IO/IA Cristina Pernici Rigo from ArcoWorldChess, attracted 345 players from 53 national federations battling for the titles of World Champion in the categories Open 50+, Women 50+, Open 65+, and Women 65+. It brought together several former and current Senior World Champions who participated in that competition:
Anatoly Vaisser (FRA, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016)
Zurab Sturua (GEO, 2014)
Vlastimil Jansa (CZE, 2018)
Nona Gaprindashvili, the reigning 65+ women's champion (GEO, 1995, 2009, 2014-16, 2018-19)
Galina Strutinskaia (FID, 2011, 2012, 2015)
Tatyana Bogumil (FID, 2016)
Elvira Berend, the defending 50+ women's champion (LUX, 2017-19), among others.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich presided over the Open Ceremony and he made the first ceremonial move in the first game between GM John Nunn (ENG) and FM Sameer Sursock (LBN) pictured below.
After a really brutal and very hectic schedule of the tournaments on US soil, the timetable of that Championship allowed me to play some good chess. Due to my low FIDE rating I was seeded the 90th in the tournament roster but my results (6 wins, 5 losses) helped me to get into the first 50 players in 50+ Category.
I would also like to share some of the most memorable games from the tournament. The game below was played in Round 7 with the white pieces against Tatyana Bogumil. Bogumil finished with 8 points (tied with Elvira Berend but Berend lost on the head-to-head tiebreaker of the 8th round) at the 2016 Womens' 50+ World Senior Championship in 2016 to capture the 1st place. Tatyana received a direct award of the WGM title for that victory. Also, she successfully participated in various blitz tournaments of the world level taking very high places, so I had to prepare accordingly to play my opponent.
The game began: 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 (I knew that Tatyana loves to play King's Indian Defense with Black pieces but I offered her the last chance here to switch to another opening, Grünfeld Defense) 3... Bg7 (played without any hesitation) 4. e4 d6 5. f3 (well, let's see what she thinks about Sämisch Variation) 5... Nfd7 (as far as I remembered something similar was promoted by the Latvian grandmaster Zigurds Lanka in early 70s last century. The idea is understandable - to put additional pressure on the weakest point of the White's pawn chain, d4, but do not think that moving the already developed piece twice in the opening would solve all the issues)
6. Be3 c5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. Qd2 (there is nothing wrong with pushing the pawn to d5 but I felt that my opponent is luring me into the territory, obviously, well-known to her) 8...h5 (another unexpected move - is she so much afraid of the White's pawn storm on the King's side or simply prepares the landing spot for the Knight on g4?..)
9. O-O-O Qa5 10. Nd5 (kind of provocative move: somehow I was under the impression that Tatyana would refuse to trade the Queens and go into a dull middlegame without real counter chances) 10... Qxa2 (my instincts proved right: after thinking for more than 40 minutes she takes the bait hoping for the crushing attack. Interestingly enough that Stockfish 14 at the first glance gives almost -2 advantage to Black pieces, but then realizes that the attack is rather premature) 11. Nc7+ Kd8 12. Nxa8 Qxc4+ 13. Kb1 (it's better than protect the King with the Knight placing it on c3 - White has to keep the tight control over d4 square, and that Knight will have a different route)
13... b6 14. dxc5 (this simple move kills all Black's hopes to checkmate my King. After the move Black's game is objectively lost) 14... Qa4 15. cxb6 Nb4 16. Nc1 axb6 17. Nxb6 (the hopes to capture the abandoned Knight have dissipated)
17... Nxb6 18. Bxb6+ Kd7 19. Bc4 (the rest is easy) 19...Bb7 20. Bb3 Qb5 21. Bd4 Bxd4 22. Qxd4 Ra8 23. Nd3 Nc6 24. Qc3 Ke8 25. Qc4 Qa5 26. Qxf7+ Kd8 27. Ba2 Bc8 28. Qd5 Qb6 29. Rc1 Bb7 30. Rhd1 Ra5 31. Nc5 Bc8 32. Qg8+ Kc7 33. Nb3 Rb5 34. Rd2 e5 35. Qxg6 Kb7 36. Rxd6
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