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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:
29 September 2023
For more information about chess for over-50s, please see our Seniors news and Seniors introduction pages.
Two tournaments next March at Wesel-Undeloh (south of Hamburg) were recently added to the calendar. One of them is for players born 1949 or earlier (i.e., a 75+ tournament) which we shall certainly consider entering.
Small events in Austria and Switzerland later this year were added today but they may not be attractive to overseas entries and there is no information in English.
The Hamburg Senior Open and some other German tournaments later this year were added two weeks ago, along with two Irish tournaments in the New Year and Easter which are open to overseas entries. The 2024 dates for one of the popular ACO holiday tournaments in Greece were lso added.
FIDE has taken provisional decisions about venues for the 2024 World events (see our news page) but these tournaments will not be added to the calendar until they are confirmed.
A welcome novelty is that a Senior congress near Frankfurt in November will have three sections, including one for players aged 75+, which is most welcome although unfortunately we cannot go ourselves. We should like to see more such events organised and otherwise 65+ events should have 75+ prizes.
Tournament organisers, please send us your announcements in good time. We know from talking to players at last year's World Seniors that these pages are widely read but we don't have much time to research events.
Newly announced events are added to this page when we find out about them. Please inform us if you know of an international senior tournament that is not mentioned. In our calendar we include only those tournaments which are described as Open and FIDE-rated, and we omit events restricted to players from one country.
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 years for the two FIDE age groups in 2023 are 1958 (for 65+ events) and 1973 (for 50+) but some German senior organisers have different rules. Note that the eligibility rules for German-language Senior events vary. It is usually 60+ for men and sometimes 50+ or 55+ for women. Check the particular details for any event that interests you.
The German Senior tournaments calendar does not seem to be curated very carefully at present, though we check it regularly. It is now about two months since the European Chess Union announced new Spring dates for their 2024 senior team championship but the German calendar still hasn't made the change.
We also regularly search on chess-results.com and sometimes find a few events (mostly in Austria) which we add below if relevant.
Tournaments are usually removed from our listings once their start dates are reached, or soon after.
** A double asterisk in the list below indicates new or recently updated information.
1-10 October 2023: The unofficial ACO "World Senior Championship (50+)" at the Fodele Beach Resort on the Greek island of Crete. Full information (PDF). GM Danny King will be in attendance as on-site trainer. Warning: NOT FIDE-rated. More details available on the organisers' website.
** 15-21 October 2023: Lower Austrian Open Senior Championship at Spitz-in-der-Wachau (7 rounds, 60+). We have not been able to find out much about this, sorry. The chess-results page links to an organiser website in German which does not seem to mention the event.
9-17 October 2023: 31st Saxon Senior Open at Gasthof Coschütz, Dresden. Information (PDF in German) now available for download. Includes a blitz tournament on 14 October.
** 17-26 October 2023: First (?) Hamburg Senior Open (separate 50+ and 65+ tournaments) at Hamburg-Haus Eimsbüttel am Doormannsweg 12. No PDF available; see the tournament website for details. As of today, they say there are still 119 places free.
** 24 October-6 November 2023: The individual World Senior Championships at Terrasini, Sicily (about an hour north-west of Palermo). The regulations (PDF in English) provide full details of the tournaments and accommodation options. We have been informed that the closing date for entries has been extended to 15 September; later entries (if accepted) would incur extra costs. An official website is now opened but their chess-results page does not separate the age categories yet.
12-18 November: 1st Cap Negret Senior Open (50+ and 65+) at Hotel Cap Negret, Altea, Alicante, Spain. Details, rules and entry form are on the tournament website; thanks to Tim Spanton for telling us about this.
** 19-25 November: Jubilee tournament "30 Jahre Seniorenförderkreis" (Klaus Gohde Memorial) at Bad Soden-Salmünster in Hesse, Germany (near Frankfurt). "Förderkreis", celebrating its 30th anniversary, is an organization which has about 1000 members and financially supports seniors. There will be seven rounds FIDE rated (morning play except round 1). Tournaments in three age groups: 50+, 65+ and 75+. Invitation document (PDF in German); also there is a tournament website and the organiser Martin Sebastian can be contacted by email at makuseb@aol.com. He sent us a helpful answer when we wrote to him in English; entries from overseas are welcome but a FIDE registration is required.
** 20-25 November: 10th Lucerne Senior Open at Horw. Switzerland. Little information available so we do not known the age category. There will be 7 rounds, two on the 22nd. Their chess-results page has limited details.
29 November-7 December: The 23rd Open Senior Championship of Mecklenburg-Verpommen at Binz, a resort on the German island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. For men born 1963 or earlier and women born 1968 or earlier. Information download (PDF in German). Entries close on 1 November; restricted to 150 competitors.
3-9 December: Bad Bertricher Winterturnier at Bad Bertrich; contact details in the Private Tournaments section of the German calendar.
10-16 December: 25th Young Seniors Open Bad Griesbach, Bavaria; details in German on the tournament website. We are not clear on the age restrictions, probably 50+?
27 December 2023-4 January 2024: The 34th international chess festival Cracovia 2023 at Krakow, Poland, with a variety of events including Group E for players 60+. There will be 9 rounds: two on 2 January but on New Year's Day just an optional blitz tournament. Information available in English (PDF download) and also see the festival website.
4-7 January 2024: The annual Irish 50+ and 65+ championships (two separate sections) at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin. Alongside a 7-round FIDE-rated international open and other events. Playing schedule and entry form on the Irish Chess Union website. Overseas visitors can enter but cannot win the titles.
13-20 January 2024: The Marienbad Chess Festival at Marianske Lazne, with many different tournaments, including as usual a 50+ Seniors Open. Details available on the Czech Tour website. The venue is the Continental Hotel which we can personally recommend, having stayed there for the 2016 World Seniors.
** 13-19 March 2024: The 2nd Nestorenturnier (75+) at Wesel-Undeloh, on the Lüneburger Heide, northern Germany. FIDE-rated, 7 rounds with morning play, open to players born in 1949 or earlier. Information (PDF in German). Organiser Martin Sebastian (makuseb@aol.com) tells us that entries from overseas players are welcome for this and the following event, so long as they have a FIDE registration.
** 13-17 March 2024: The 23rd German Senior Derby at the same venue as the previously listed tournament, is for slightly younger players (Men 60+, Women 55+) and held over a shorter period with some afternoon rounds. A blitz tournament will be held on the evening of the 15th for competitors in either of these events. Information (PDF in German).
** 29 March-1 April 2024: The first Dublin 50+ and 65+ championships (two separate sections) at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin. Alongside a 7-round FIDE-rated international open and other events. Playing schedule and entry form on the Irish Chess Union website.
15-25 April 2024: The European Senior Team Championships (50+ and 65+) at Terme Catez, Slovenia. Note: this event was originally announced for October and the German calendar still has the wrong dates. Details have yet to be announced. Terme Catez is an aquatic spa near Brezic, close to the border with Croatia, so flying to Zagreb may be one option for getting there if you have no direct flights to Ljubljana. By road from Trieste could work; it is less than 100km.
28 April-4 May 2024: The 31st Open Oberlausitzer Senior Championship (7 rounds, 60+) at Großschönau, in the Görlitz region of Saxony, close to the Czech border. Information about this unusual event is now available to download (PDF in German). It says "Das Turnier wird in einer Gruppe mit zwei getrennten Wertungen durchgefuehrt" which we think means that there will be one tournament but with two separate prize funds: for 60+ and 70+ players. The exception is that women who will reach their 55th birthday by the end of 2024 may enter.
Except for round 1, play is in the morning (8.30am start for the last round!). The most convenient airports for international visitors would be Dresden and Prague.
** 2-11 May 2024: The ACO Super Seniors (65+) at the Atlantica-Belvedere Hotel on the Greek Island of Kos. Followed immediately by the unofficial ACO "World Championships" at the same venue. Details on the organisers' website. Warning: NOT FIDE-rated.
8-16 June 2024: The 34th Bavarian Senior Open at Bergen-Chiemgau. This is an annual 60+ tournament so players born 1964 or earlier will be eligible. We can expect more details to be announced nearer the time.
1-7 July 2024: The 32nd Open Senior Championships of Sachsen-Anhalt (50+ and 65+) at Magdeburg. We have heard good reports of this annual event. More information will doubtless follow in a few months.
** 5-13 July 2024: The 9th Open Senior Championships of Baden-Württemberg (60+ for both men and women) at Bad Herrenalb. Contact details available on the German calendar.
** 3-11 September 2024: The 21st Rheinland/Pfalz Senior Open at Altenkirchen/Westerwald. This year's event recently finished. Details for next year will no dounbt be published later.
18-29 October 2024: The European Senior Individual Championships (50+ and 65+) at Lignano Sabbiadoro, a resort in north-east Italy, about an hour west of Trieste. We do not know yet which Italian company is organising this.
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