World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Information and discussion on all matters relating to Seniors Chess.
Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Mick Norris » Tue Apr 04, 2017 4:34 pm

website

Round 1 is Monday 24 April; no rest day, so finishes Tuesday 2 May

Teams 50+ and 65+

Good luck to all the England teams :D
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Tim Harding
Posts: 2318
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:46 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Tim Harding » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:03 pm

Mick Norris wrote:website

Round 1 is Monday 24 April; no rest day, so finishes Tuesday 2 May

Teams 50+ and 65+

Good luck to all the England teams :D
Indeed, and the Welsh too. No Irish this year as most of last year's team will be in Reykjavik. It's a pity about the clash of dates.

We hope to be back in 2018 when the tournaments return to Dresden. It's very noticeable that the entries are well down on 2016 when we had so many German regional and club teams (Ireland played eight in nine rounds), but presumably they will mostly return next year.

It will be interesting to see if Israel turn up. Last year they didn't, probably because of a money dispute in their federation? If they come they will of course be contenders in both events.

No Mongolian women or Canada this time so it's almost a Europe-only event. Well done Bermuda for entering!

What's the make-up of the top England teams?
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:38 pm

Two friends of mine (a club colleague and a YCA committee colleague) are representing England and another local player will be there under the Saltire flag so I shall be watching with interest. Good luck to all representatives.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

Nick Grey
Posts: 1838
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:16 am

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Nick Grey » Fri Apr 21, 2017 8:41 pm

There are lots of players I know (London area & SCCU) in all the teams 50+ & 65+ Best wishes to them including Bermuda & SCCU.

What really impresses me are the numbers that played in last night's London League matches at Cavendish with Cavendish 1 playing Mushrooms 1 & Cavendish 3 playing Wimbledon 2. That is real dedication! Enjoy!

David Sedgwick
Posts: 5249
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
Location: Croydon

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by David Sedgwick » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:21 pm

Nick Grey wrote:There are lots of players I know (London area & SCCU) in all the teams 50+ & 65+ Best wishes to them including Bermuda & SCCU.

What really impresses me are the numbers that played in last night's London League matches at Cavendish with Cavendish 1 playing Mushrooms 1 & Cavendish 3 playing Wimbledon 2. That is real dedication! Enjoy!
The SCCU 125 team, in the 50+ section, has been entered to mark the 125th anniversary of the SCCU. It comprises the current President and three former Presidents.

That's the good news. The bad news is that we have the lowest average rating of the 22 teams by some margin.

At least I had a distinctly fortuitous victory over an England Women's International in the Cavendish v Mushrooms match as a send off for my duties as the SCCU 125 top board.

Nick Grey
Posts: 1838
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:16 am

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Nick Grey » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:11 pm

SCCU team is a fantastic foursome so enjoy. You all deserve it.

Of course the real mad ones are those combining a meeting in Birmingham before flying out & just hope you are not caught up in snow/cancelled flights.

NickFaulks
Posts: 8453
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:28 pm

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:45 pm

Nick Grey wrote: Of course the real mad ones are those combining a meeting in Birmingham before flying out
Yes, that 7am flight from Gatwick after a day trip to Brum really is a pain up the proverbial. How nice it would have been to travel tomorrow afternoon, with an extra night there. Even worked out cheaper.

Sadly, I have just learned that a Bermuda player has had to pull out at the last minute. We have no reserve, so not sure how that's going to work.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5821
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:55 pm

"The SCCU 125 team, in the 50+ section, has been entered to mark the 125th anniversary of the SCCU. It comprises the current President and three former Presidents.

That's the good news. The bad news is that we have the lowest average rating of the 22 teams by some margin."

Good luck - another team member was slightly worried! I told him it would be hard work, but enjoyable.

Good luck to the other UK teams and Bermuda as part of them is local.

Tim Harding
Posts: 2318
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:46 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Tim Harding » Sun Apr 23, 2017 10:36 pm

Good luck to all the English, Welsh and Scots players (including expats on other teams).
Ireland hope to be back next year but dates were changed and we cannot be in two places at once.

In fact, chief arbiter Sotiris Logothetis was one of the earliest entries for Reykjavik but of course has had to pull out. He ran the 2014 World Senior Individuals very well (along with chief organiser Nikolaos Kalesis) so this should be a very enjoyable event for all concerned.

Now actual teams have been declared England I are top seeds in the 50+ whereas in the advance listings they were fourth, presumably because other teams have weakened (on paper).

I'm also pleased to see Israel made it this time (in both tournaments), but the 2015 champions Slovakia have not entered. (They were significantly weaker last year.)

In the 65+ Belgium, who won bronze last time, are going to play the EU teams instead; I am reliably informed this was because the Crete dates only suited two of their players.

The Bermuda situation is certainly unfortunate. At least you are honestly playing boards 1-3 whereas last year Tunisia in the 65+ declared a no-show on top board and played boards 2-4 throughout.

Round 1 team pairings are up but not yet the board pairings as captains of teams with reserves have a deadline to declare their line-up.

http://wstcc-crete.com/

I expect both tournaments will return to their 2016 size next year as all the German regional and club teams will return.
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:09 am

England 1 are top seeds because Nigel Short is is the team; he wasn't on the original list in which we were 4th seeds
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Chris Rice
Posts: 3417
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:17 am

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:38 am

Board pairings for Round 1 are now up. Start time is 1pm BST. Haven't found a live games link yet (assuming one exists):

50+

Board 1 Rochade Bielefeld Revival - England I
1.1 Becker, Norbert 2106 - GM Short, Nigel D 2683
1.2 Beilfuss, Wilfried Dr. 2176 - GM Nunn, John D M 2600
1.3 Mueller, Gerhard 2127 - GM Speelman, Jon S 2511
1.4 Thoele, Wolfgang Dr. 2018 - FM Chapman, Terry P D 2247

Board 6 Austria - Wales
6.1 FM Wallner, Joachim 2313 - FM Zeidler, Sven P. 2186
6.2 FM Denk, Adolf 2268 - Ralphs, Nigel 2058
6.3 FM Druckenthaner, Andreas 2258 - Adams, Mark 1971
6.4 Ernst, Michael 2141 - Fletcher, John 1947

Board 7 Oslo - England II
7.1 Semakoff, Aleks 2102 - FM Lewis, Andrew P 2245
7.2 Sollid, Stein 2029 - CM Dunn, Andrew 2190
7.3 Thjomoe, Hans Richard 1896 - Burnett, Jim 2075
7.4 Jakobsen, Oivind 1680 - Fegan, Chris 2052

Board 8 Russia Women - England III
8.1 WGM Strutinskaia, Galina 2293 - Homer, Stephen J 2005
8.2 WGM Bogumil, Tatiana 2173 - Jacob, Sydney J 1865
8.3 WGM Fatalibekova, Elena 2254 - Cross, Ian K 1709
8.4 WIM Sazonova, Elena N. 2119 - Waldock, Adrian D P 1675

Board 10 Scotland - Bermuda
10.1 IM Mannion, Stephen R 2335 - FM Black, Richard 2222
10.2 FM Jamieson, Peter M 2219 - CM Faulks, Nick 1977
10.3 Robertson, Ian C. 2053 - CM Radford, Michael 1856
10.4 Bhopal, Raj 1951 - No opponent

Board 11 SCCU 125 - VSG 1880 Offenbach
11.1 Sedgwick, David 1961 - FM Cordes, Hans-Joerg Dr. 2231
11.2 Denning, Julie L 0 - Jakel, Wolfgang 2218
11.3 Gunn, Michael J 1603 - Hoehn, Michael 2052
11.4 Howes, David J 1464 - Wolff, Peter 1963

65+

Board 3 England II - Israel
3.1 Scholes, James E 2071 - IM Birnboim, Nathan 2355
3.2 Hewson, Brian W R 2060 - IM Berkovich, Mark A 2345
3.3 Reynolds, D Ian W 2000 - IM Lederman, Leon 2276
3.4 Thynne, Trefor F 1975 - Malisov, Boris 2283

Board 4 Sweden I - Wales
4.1 IM Renman, Nils-Gustaf 2361 - FM Jones, Iolo C 2195
4.2 Uddenfeldt, Dan 2359 - Thornton, John D 2059
4.3 FM Malmdin, Nils-Ake 2197 - Waterfield, John W 1948
4.4 Hedin, Gunnar 2193 - AGM Van Kemenade, Rudy 1914

Board 5 Scotland - Germany
5.1 FM Giulian, Philip M 2123 - FM Werner, Clemens 2346
5.2 Scrimgour, Alan 2063 - IM Salov, Sergej 2190
5.3 Mckerracher, Douglas 1941 - FM Baum, Bernd Dr. 2226
5.4 Webster, Jim J 1807 - FM Haubt, Georg 2179

Board 7 Sweden IV - England I
7.1 Carlsten, Peter 1942 - FM Stebbings, Anthony J 2294
7.2 Lundgren, Ulf 1936 - Quinn, John M 2176
7.3 Sterner, Johan 1916 - CM Ashby, Anthony C 2080
7.4 Andersson, Sven-Olof 1915 - CM Reuben, Stewart 2077

Board 9 England III - Koninklijke DD
9.1 Ewart, Brian R 1918 - Van Caspel, Ruud 2101
9.2 Wood, Peter R 1879 - Lindner, Jan-Joost 2106
9.3 Fenwick, Hugh F 1874 - Olof, Erik 2006
9.4 Scowen, Roger S 1862 - Munninghoff, Alexander 1930

Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:49 am

Games will be on chess24 live

1 pm start UK time today as Chris says
Any postings on here represent my personal views

David Sedgwick
Posts: 5249
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
Location: Croydon

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by David Sedgwick » Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:03 am

Thank you to everyone for the interest and support. It is much appreciated.

Mick Norris wrote:England 1 are top seeds because Nigel Short is is the team; he wasn't on the original list in which we were 4th seeds
Nigel Short replaced Malcolm Pein in the England 1 team shortly before the deadline.

You may very well think that this was planned all along and that England were sandbagging. I couldn't possibly comment.

Chris Rice wrote:Haven't found a live games link yet (assuming one exists) ...
The Chief Arbiter kindly answered my queries about this:

There is a link on the official website at http://wstcc-crete.com/ (scroll down the page) but it is currently not working. It is being fixed.

The games will also be broadcast on Chess24.

The top five matches in each section will be broadcast live. This gives the SCCU 125 team a target: to get onto the live boards at least once during the event.

Mick Norris
Posts: 10329
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:11 am

Your name is already on chess24 David; good luck
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Chris Rice
Posts: 3417
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:17 am

Re: World Senior Teams 23 April to 3 May, Crete

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:36 pm

Lively start in the Becker-Short match as 4...g5 isn't a move you would see very often as Black against the c3 Sicilian.