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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
22 June 2021
For more information about chess for over-50s, please see our Seniors news and Seniors introduction pages.
We are now awaiting further information about the European Individual Seniors Championship, recently announced by the ECU, but the venue has been named.
We also await confirmation about the World Seniors for which the organisers arcoworldchess.com have stated new dates on their website. We hope these tournaments can be successfully held.
The FIDE calendar continues to show information which we believe is incorrect.
For tournaments run on FIDE Senior rules, you do not have to wait for your birthday; you are qualified from 1 January in the year in which you reach the qualifying age. The qualifying dates for the two FIDE age groups this year are 31 December 1956 (for 65+) and 31 December 1971 (for 50+).
The German Senior tournaments calendar was redesigned and updated during 2020. We are occasionally in contact with Wolfgang Block who organises it. In our calendar we include only those tournaments which are described as Open, and not events restricted to German players.
If you know of further tournaments, or cancellations, please inform us and we shall include them.
An asterisk in the list below indicates new or recently changed information. All tournaments are liable to change/cancellation:
2-10 July: 18th Rheinland/Pfalz Senior Open (9 rounds) at Altenkirchen/Westerwald. For men born 1961 or earlier and women born 1966 or earlier. Details in German (PDF). The venue is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz.
5-11 July: 29th Open Senior championship of Sachsen-Anhalt at Magdeburg (7 rounds). Prizes for 50+ and 65+ in one tournament. PDF regulations in German. Later in July, Magdeburg hosts the German Senior Championships, which were held there successfully last August.
** Starting 24 July, qualifiers for the 2nd British 50+ and 65+ Senior Championships. See our news page for a link to the announcement, regulations and entry form. If the entry is low, the qualifiers may be cancelled (as happened last December) with everyone playing the finals, which will be held in early August. ECF also hope to hold an OTB senior championship in October and the twice-postponed "2020" British Chamnpionships in Torquay will now be held there in 2022. For future announcements, check the English Chess Federation championship website.
30 July-3 August : 11th Canadian Seniors Championships at Halifax, Nova Scotia, as part of a larger chess festival. 6-Round Swiss in two sections 50+/65+. Canadian residents are eligible if age 50/65 by 31st December 2021. Foreign players U2000 are welcome but cannot claim first prize. Highest rated entries so far are GM Evgeny Bareev (50+) and IM Leon Piasetski in the 65+.
** POSTPONED (was 11-19 August): European Senior Team Championship at Polanica-Zdroj, Poland. The ECU website now says this event is postponed - until next year we expect.
** 14-22 August: Open Senior individual tournament (Men 60+, women 50) also as part of the Rubinstein Memorial Festival at Polanica-Zdroj, Poland. Afternoon play, This is not a championship event, but is one of several age- or rating-restricted tournaments announced for the festival.
** 25? September to October (exact dates not yet announced): Baia di Porto Conte (northern Sardinia), European Individual Senior Championship. Probably organised by the people who held summer events in Sardinia annually up to 2019. We note that the Italian Senior Championships are due to be held from 5-12 September.
30 September-8 October 15th Open Senior Championship of Schleswig-Holstein at Busum. Regulations (PDF in German).
** 24-26 September: Dublin, Irish Senior Championship (50+ and 65+ in one tournament), 5 round Swiss (instead of 7 rounds as in previous years). Full details are not yet available but there is an ICU web page where you can contact the organiser and enter.
1-10 October: ACO unofficial "Senior World Championships" (50+) in Crete. Seven sections based on 200-Elo wide rating bands. PDF announcement of regulations in English. The organisers' website promises 200 Euro per person discounts for entries received by 31 March and free cancellation up to three days before the start. The venue is the same as for their events in May.
** 13-22 October: Rearranged dates for the Chess Classics Bad Neuenahr (Klaus Gohde Memorial tournaments). Three 9-round FIDE-rated sections: 50+, 65+ and 75+! A half-point bye may be taken in one of the first seven rounds if requested. The rather high entry fee of 120 Euros includes refreshments (water, coffee, tea or juices) during the games. Revised details (PDF in German). This sounds like a high-class event. Bad Neuenahr is in a pleasant wine-growing region close to the Rhine at Remagen.
* 15-28 November (new dates): Official FIDE Senior World Championships at Assisi, Italy, which was to have been the 2020 venue. The organisers' website arcoworldchess.com now states these dates which are about a week later than was formerly mentioned but as yet there is no website link and no PDF file. Watch this space. As intercontinental travel is bound to be difficult even in November, we suspect this event may be replaced by the European chamnpionship mentioned above, rather than additional to it.
** 1-9 December: 21st Open Senior Championship of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at Binz (a resort on the Baltic island of Rügen). Nine rounds; for women born 1966 or earlier, men born 1961 or earlier. Information in German can be found at the organisers' website.
May 2022: FIDE Senior World Team Championships pencilled in for Acqui Terme, Italy, according to organisers Arcoworldchess. (Originally planned for August 2021, but they say FIDE asked them to wait until next year.)
PROBABLY POSTPONED AND/OR RELOCATED (original dates were 23 July-1 August 2021): This year's European Senior Team Championships was originally scheduled for Dresden, Germany. If the ECU calendar can be believed, the 2021 event will be played in Wroclaw, Poland but there are still no dates and the European Senior Individuals are still assigned to Pola d with no venue or dates. We shall probably have to wait several more weeks for any information but our view is that even the individual championship may not happen.
The team event is usually for teams of four representing nations or regions; 50+ and 65+. All players on a team must be registered with FIDE and from the same federation.
Note the age qualification rules for German-language Senior events vary. It is usually 60+ for men and 50+ or 55+ for women. Check the particular details for any event that interests you.
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