European Senior Team Championships Dresden 2022

[Tim Spanton]

A draw for Keith guarantees England 1st place otherwise I'm sure he'd have happily found a way to play on.

Very wise to take the draw. It would have been tragic if the team had come this far and then had a nasty accident.

Slovakia had kindly sealed the deal for us by defeating Germany.

Only England 2 now stand in the way of all the England 1 players going through the event unbeaten. On the other hand, England 2 might get a medal themselves - if they beat England 1 and England 3 beat Berlin 1.

Chess24 and Chess-Results both say that Round 9 starts at 0900 GMT.

10:00 Berlin time

[David Sedgwick]

Congratulations to Tim Spanton on a fantastic individual performance,

[Mick Norris]

England details

50+ was won by England 1 with no individual losses which is an excellent performance, with England 2 seeded and finishing 8th, and an excellent performance from England 3 seeded 23rd and finishing 12th

[Tim Spanton]

Congratulations to Tim Spanton on a fantastic individual performance,

Thank you, David. This was my first seniors team event - I hope it won't be my last.

[Martin Crichton]

Lots of stunning photos from the event now available taken by the Austrian board 4 professional photographer Peter Kranzl here:

https://schachunddarts.at/Senioren%20EM%20Dresden/

As you would expect lots of photos from an Austrian perspective. Also many excellent photos of Dresden and the events around Dresden during the event.

my favourite chess photo is this one:

https://schachunddarts.at/senioren-em-d ... 0b32/25832

[Mick Norris]

ECF with photo of the gold medal winning team

It’s no surprise that England claimed most of the Gold medal board prizes with Mark Hebden scoring 6.5/8 on Board 1; Keith Arkell scoring 7/9 on Board 2 and John Emms scoring 6.5/8 on Board 3. Glenn Flear’s score of 6.5/9 on Board 4, unfortunately only got him the Silver medal. Special mention should also be made of IM Chris Baker, who agreeably accepted that he would only play in the first and last rounds (scoring 1.5/2), so the team could field its strongest side for most of the tournament, to ensure the title was secured. He leaves the tournament with the appreciation of his team mates for his unselfish support and he was awarded by Mark Hebden with the affectionate nickname ‘Book-end Baker!’

[Ken Norman]

It is remarkable that England has won the European over 50's Team Championship and the over 50's and over 65 World Team Championship when there is very little organized Seniors Chess in England.

The British Seniors over 50 and over 65 are the only Seniors tournaments regularly held in England. If you wish to play in Seniors tournaments you have to travel to Europe.

Congratulations to Nigel Povah for doing a magnificent job organising the teams.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I'm not sure "practice in Seniors events" matters very much for the success of Seniors teams, at least not compared with "practice against opponents of the rating level you'll face", and it's easy enough to get the latter.

[Tim Spanton]

I'm not sure "practice in Seniors events" matters very much for the success of Seniors teams, at least not compared with "practice against opponents of the rating level you'll face", and it's easy enough to get the latter.

In my experience there is a big difference between playing a senior rated 1900 and a junior rated 1900.

[NickFaulks]

In my experience there is a big difference between playing a senior rated 1900 and a junior rated 1900.

Of course there is, but the 19-49 community does exist.

[Roger de Coverly]

The British Seniors over 50 and over 65 are the only Seniors tournaments regularly held in England. If you wish to play in Seniors tournaments you have to travel to Europe.

Many weekend tournaments are mostly Senior in participants if not in name.

[Tim Spanton]

The British Seniors over 50 and over 65 are the only Seniors tournaments regularly held in England. If you wish to play in Seniors tournaments you have to travel to Europe.

Many weekend tournaments are mostly Senior in participants if not in name.

I don't play many such tournaments so I wouldn't know, but playing two or three rounds a day is not good practice for a seniors championship

[Matt Mackenzie]

How many weekend Swisses in England still do *3* rounds a day? Seems to be much less common than it once was, for sure.

[Tim Spanton]

How many weekend Swisses in England still do *3* rounds a day? Seems to be much less common than it once was, for sure.

Five-rounders rather than six-rounders seem popular but that requires three on the Saturday if organisers don't want the extra cost of a Friday evening hire.

[Roger de Coverly]

if organisers don't want the extra cost of a Friday evening hire.

And for that matter, where players don't want the extra aggravation of Friday evening rush hour travel.

Three rounds on Saturday seems mainly a London and South East thing, provided the definition of South East can extend to Witney and Kidlington in Oxfordshire and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.