English Chess Forum

So far few senior tournaments are definitely announced for next year.

The good news is that Bad Woerishofen should be back in March. You can find details on my website via the link below.
There will be the usual trio of tournaments: Open, B-Open (rating ceiling 1999) and Seniors (men born 1962 or earlier, women born 1972 or earlier).

http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

(And if you want to play abroad this year there are still a few events listed there.)

The only other event I have in my calendar for the first half of 2022 is the World Senior Teams at Acqui Terme, Italy, in May. Players who have already played there twice in the individual event may not be so keen...

The World Senior Individual Championships are scheduled again for Assisi in November - third time lucky I hope. That's a place I would really like to visit.

The European Chess Union have now started a calendar for 2022 and it says the European Senior Championship (individual) is to be in Poland. Well that was the case in 2019 and 2020, twice postponed, so we must wait and see.
Next time I update my pages I will say something about that and add the British Championships Torquay 2022.

ECU doesn't say where the European Senior Team Championship will be held so I guess it's open to bids but I would expect that if the Germans want to host it in Dresden they will get it. (Before Covid it was to be Wroclaw, Poland, 2020 and Dresden 2021.)

I expect the friends of ACO will soon rush to inform us all when and where their 2022 events will be - Crete again?

Further to my posting yesterday, this afternoon I received an email with the winter programme from Ave-Kontakt, organisers of the Czech tour.

Marienbad is back in mid-January with a 50+ Seniors (three prizes for those born 1956 or earlier) alongside an Open and GM & IM round-robins.

http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

Did they not play Marienbad last year then?

I got that email - Can Tim recommend any or all of these?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 15, 2021 5:29 pm

Did they not play Marienbad last year then?

Yes Marienbad did happen in January 2020 (before Covid hit Europe) but, if my recollection is correct, Marienbad this year only hosted round-robin GM and IM, no Open or Senior.

Again writing from memory, I think Bad Woerishofen just scraped under the wire in 2019 before the lockdowns. but had to be completely cancelled this year.

I have never been to the latter but I have quite happy memories of when the 2016 World Seniors were played in Marianske Lazne in 2016 and I stayed with my wife at the Continental Hotel which is listed as the venue for 2022. It was warm, friendly and comfortable if a bit quaint.
If they were expecting a large entry they might have gone elsewhere but probably only a few of the hotels are open in winter, especially with Covid,

On the other hand, you do have a good chance of snow at Marienbad in January and not many people there speak English (German and Russian are more popular, for historic reasons, after Czech of course).

The journey to Marianske Lazne by train from Prague is straight-forward, except that the station is about a mile from the town.
To get to Bad Woerishofen from Munich airport you have to change trains twice. Apparently there is a nearer airport (Memmingen) but I don't know if anyone flies there from Britain; it's not an option from Ireland.
So the journey time on the continent is about the same (two to two and a half hours) but maybe don't bring a heavy suitcase.

My Senior pages including the calendar have just been updated.
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

I am only aware of one more 2021 open senior tournament and it's in a remote part of eastern Germany but a couple more 2022 German tournaments in more accessible venues were recently added.

The 2022 British 50+ and 65+ Championships will be played in successive weeks rather than simultaneously so those of us born in 1957 or earlier who fancy two August weeks in Torquay can play both.

I have just received an entry form for the 2022 Bregenz Tournament.

The Seniors event is 7 rounds 22-5-2022 to 28-5-2022 and the OPEN is 9 rounds 21-5-2022 to 29-5-2022.

Bregenz is in Austria on the shores of Lake Constance.

I have now updated my pages
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html
and
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-news.html

The main new information is:
a) The World Senior Team Championship in Acqui Terme, Italy, has been moved to mid-June.
This clears the way for the ECF to arrange (if they can) an English Seniors (50+?) that would have clashed, but we have to wait for information on that so I didn't put it on the website.

b) ECU are now saying European Senior Individual championships in Poland in July but no exact place or dates yet. Maybe they are thinking of amalgamating with the Brandenburg event (in my calendar) but that's only a guess on my part.

c) ECU also say European Senior TEAM championships in Dresden in August. Because of two other German senior events running to the 20th August in Magdeburg, this strongly implies Dresden will start on or soon after the 21st.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:17 pm

I have now updated my pages
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html
and
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-news.html

The main new information is:

Other relevant information is that Bad Wörishofen is already at capacity and no longer accepting entries - "We do have a limit of 210 players in the hall due to distancing. The waiting list is already long, no further applications!"

Thanks. I have updated the pages again.
With the World Senior Teams moved to June, the ECF have now added the English Seniors (50+ and 65+) to their calendar tentatively. They are trying to arrange the venue now, I believe, so there could be an announcement quite soon.

If anyone wants a senior tournament abroad, the Bodensee event mentioned above by Ken Norman looks attractive.

The Irish Chess Union hopes to hold the Irish Seniors shortly before Easter but that is not definite yet and their policy on accepting entries from non-Irish players from abroad may need to be clarified. Probably only fully vaccinated people with no Djokovic exemptions!

Nigel Povah has succeeded in obtaining details of the World Senior Team Championships in Acqui Terme, Italy, from the organisers and he kindly sent them to me today. There are new dates (again): 19 June (arrival) to 30 June (departure), 9 rounds with a rest/excursion day after round 5.

So I have updated my senior pages. The file Nigel sent me can be downloaded from http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

Several more senior tournaments have been added to my calendar since I last posted in this thread:

http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

The announcement which prompted this posting is that we now have dates for the European Senior Team Championships (50+ and 65+) which will be played at the Dresden congress hall where the 2008 FIDE Olympiad took place. The dates are 26 October-4 November, and not August as the unhelpful ECU calendar is still saying. It looks as if accommodation will be at the Hotel Maritim (a German chain, I think) but further details are promised soon on the Dresdner Schachfestival website. So unlike the 2016 and 2018 World Senior Team Championships, which were out in the western suburbs at Radebeul, it looks like we shall be much more central this time.

The ECU calendar is still promising a European Individual Championship somewhere in Poland, at unspecified dates in July, but the longer this remains uncertain the more I think it won't happen.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 8:02 pm

The announcement which prompted this posting is that we now have dates for the European Senior Team Championships (50+ and 65+) which will be played at the Dresden congress hall where the 2008 FIDE Olympiad took place. The dates are 26 October-4 November, and not August as the unhelpful ECU calendar is still saying.

This is reminiscent of 2008, when the date was moved from Summer to November after the bid was accepted. We were assured that this would be just as pleasant as promised - if you think snow and sleet are as good as warm sunshine, then I suppose it was.

Europe is not my continent anyway, but I shall maintain the view I formed then, that Dresden in November is better avoided.

You are welcome to your view, Nick, but I have twice played in Dresden in mid-summer and found it too hot to really enjoy what the city has to offer in the way of culture. By the second time I visited (2018) restoration was pretty much complete. November could be a better time to explore.

The full regulations for the European Senior Teams are now available in English and can be downloaded in PDF from my calendar page, or the organisers' website:
https://www.schachfestival.de/aktuelles ... -2022.html

http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html

The ECU website is still saying this event will be in August!

Next up is the European Senior Individual Championships in Lublin, starting a few days from now.

https://chess-results.com/tnr642032.aspx?lan=1

No British players in the 50+ so far as I can see but quite a few English players in the 65+: Tony Stebbings, Terry Chapman, Brian Hewson etc. Good luck to all.

The European Senior Teams at Dresden, first round 27 October, no British teams yet:
https://chess-results.com/tnr639706.aspx?lan=1
(The 59+ and 65+ entries have not been separated yet in that file.)

The World Senior Individual Championships at Assisi, 11 rounds, first round on 15 November.

The invitation document is available at last and can be downloaded in PDF from my calendar where details of other Senior tournaments can also be found:
http://www.chessmail.com/seniors/Seniors-calendar.html