The ACO is back!

[Simon Rogers]

Is there a list of entrants for the sections yet?

[David Gilbert]

It's that time again. Holidays are coming! Just six weeks to go now and I’ve already begun packing. There’s quite a crowd heading off this time to the fabulous 5-Star Atlantica-Belvedere Resort on the beautiful Greek island of Kos for the two ACO tournaments in May. It's a class Hotel. So far there’s 86 registrations for the Over-65’s Super Seniors, which start on 2 May 2023, and 182 entries for the popular Amateur Championships, which begin immediately afterwards on 11 May 2023. So far there are five English entries and one Welshman in the old folks tournament, while twelve English and one Scot are booked for the Amateurs. Two players, Tim Spanton and Bernie Tedd, aren’t messing around - they’re on both lists!

Entries are now being taken for the ACO Seniors Championships (50+) which are back at the spectacular Fodele Beach Resort on Crete starting on 1 October 2023. We’re six months out and there are already 120 names on the entry list, including ten from England and one from Scotland. My flights are booked. Any quinquagenarian-plus players interested in joining us for amazing chess, warm sun, bucket loads of sand, spectacular swan dives and all-day cuisine, checkout the ACO website.

https://www.amateurchess.com/world-chess-championships

[David Gilbert]

The Sun was shining this morning so I’ve dressed in bright yellow! Disappointingly there’s still no accompanying yellow Fitbit strap and the Hot Pink is out of stock. Anyway waiting in the BA Lounge at Gatwick I see Tim Spanton has finished second in Group C of the over-65s in Kos, warming up for what follows starting on Friday. No doubt there’ll be a detailed report on his blog in the coming days. Last night DHSS won the Bonar Law (first played for in 1923) so with that and the Sun in ascendancy I’m up for anything at the moment, but that’s another story.

[David Gilbert]

The Amateur Chess Organisation has announced dates for the first of its 2024 tournaments. Both are back at the Atlantica-Belvedere Hotel on the amazing Greek Island of Kos. The over-65s Super Seniors runs from Thursday, 2 May 2024 (Arrival) to Saturday, 11 May 2024 (Departure). That’s immediately followed by the ACO World Championships which runs from Saturday, 11 May 2024 (Arrival) until Monday, 20 May 2024 (Departure). Get booked before the end of November and save €200.

Keep your eyes open for a report from the 2023 ACO World Championships in this month’s edition of Chess Magazine - it includes superb contributions from Daniel King, Andrew Smith and Tim Spanton (I reckon these guys might have done this writing thing before). That alone must be worth the £5.95 ticket price.

And finally there are sixteen English players and one Welshman booked to go to the wonderful Fodele Beach and Waterpark Resort on Crete for the ACO over-50s Seniors event that starts on Sunday, 1 October 2023 (Arrival) and runs to Tuesday, 10 October 2023. News reached us regulars on Thursday that the Hotel’s private beach has been presented with the prestigious Blue Flag Award for the 24th successive year! I’ve no idea what that means, but they seem pretty pleased with it!

Anyone interested check out the ACO website https://www.amateurchess.com

[David Gilbert]

We are fortunate at ACO events to have the luxury of English GM Daniel King, GM Zigurds Lanka from Latvia and GM Spyridon Skembris from Crete sitting in the analysis area providing advice and support at the game postmortems (as well as giving seminars and playing simuls). At the end of the tournament they each judge their best games from the hundreds they've seen from players rated from below 1200 to 2400. No one is left out. Anyway, this time Daniel King has produced three entertaining videos - they're always entertaining - of the best games from Kos last May.

Group A IM Gert Schnider v Alfren Gorgs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GHZ3FoENQk
Group F Benno Gerlach v Viktor Somogyi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeYGKkt5HKM
Group B Andre Matzat v Andrew Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYjLBv-rBXc

There's quite a crowd heading to Crete at the start of October. Presently there's seventeen English and one Welsh player registered among the 188 total, as well as Daniel King. Life's a beach isn't it!

[David Gilbert]

It’s coming. The ACO tournaments are back on the beautiful Greek island of Kos and the amazing Belvedere-Atlantica resort. The over-65s Super-Seniors runs 1-10 May 2024 with the Amateur Championships following immediately afterwards 11-20 May 2024. If you haven’t seen the video - the star performer appears after five minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su36_PuwaLc

Numbers are restricted to 150 and there are 128 on the list already. (Updated to 144 registrations on 27/11/23) The Hotel is inclusive and for adults only, so no juniors! In case you’re tempted there’s just a few days left until the end of November to claim the €200 discount. You pay the €100 registration fee now, but there’s nothing more to pay until April. I’m booked for the Amateurs with five others from England and two Scots. The website is here:
https://www.amateurchess.com

This will be my 13th ACO tournament, but my trusty red suitcase won’t make it this time. It’s suffered enough and has resigned before being defaulted. My Santa’s wish list includes really, really, really, very, very, bright lime green luggage - the sort of colour that gets noticed on the airport carousels. I’m toying with the idea ordering matching shoes! I already have the lime green socks and polo shirt. The international space station has been alerted just in case.