Half time Report
World Senior Team Championship 2015
On Tuesday, February 24th 2015, the 3rd World Senior Team Championship was opened with heartfelt words from FIDE Director for Seniors Dr. Dirk Jordan, welcoming all the players, followed by the procession of the flags from all 16 participating nations. Overall, 87 teams from as far as Argentina have found their way to Dresden, Germany.
As expected, the team England 1 50+ played exceptional chess in the first rounds and were able to keep their position on top of the younger group of seniors for 3 days. The sensation came in the fourth round. After dominating the 50+ group for the first rounds the English team had to surrender to their opponents from Slovakia on day 4. With this win, Slovakia is now leading the group and will defend their position during the next rounds. In section 65+ the team from Russia is on top. Right behind them are Scotland 1 and Germany 2. They are fighting to steal the first place from Russia.
But not only the championship is attracting attention. Yesterday’s blitz tournament was another great event with many international players partaking. All in all there were 24 teams of two playing with a thinking time of 5 minutes and 3 seconds increment. The winners after 9 rounds of high class blitz chess were Keith Arkell and Matthew Sadler – forming the team „Young England“.
For all the players and accompanying persons not interested in indulging in more chess after the actual rounds there are many social events, put together by the organizers, to get their minds off of the last matches. The city tour on Thursday, designed to get to know the city of Dresden, was completely sold out and 40 people set off to walk on old paths and learn new things about the Baroque city. Another highlight was the ChessBase seminar held on Saturday, February 28th, by Mr. Martin Fischer, a representative of ChessBase. He introduced the new system „ChessBase 13“ and attracted more than 50 willing listeners. Later that day team captains and chess players alike got together to discuss current topics of Senior chess, an event hosted by Dr. Dirk Jordan. He was supported by Mr. Herbert Bastian, vice president of FIDE, and Mr. Johann Pöcksteiner, ECU Seniors Tournament Director.
Looking at the second half of the championship the question arising most is: „Who will be the World Champion in Section 50+ and in Section 65+?“
Audience at the Opening Ceremony