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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 April 2026
This is a page for news about Irish players who are 50 years of age or older.
We also invite you to read our main Irish news page and international Seniors news and Seniors calendar pages.
Three teams of four players representing Ireland have just finished competing at the World Senior Team Championships in Durres, Albania, which ended yesterday. Well done to all our players for fighting hard against mostly higher-rated opposition.
The teams had no reserve players and there were no rest days so this was a busy campaign, although one team had a day off when opponents had to forfeit a match due to serious illness.
We had two teams in the 65+ section and one in the 50+ tournament although only three players aged under 65 were available to travel. So Jim Murray, a veteran of 65+ teams since 2016, kindly agreed to play on board three for the 50+ team and captain it so that the others would not be disappointed.
Our 50+ team was initially seeded 32nd of the 36 teams and they indeed finished exactly as the initial rankings predicted. They won three matches, drew one and lost five, so scoring 7 match points.
Although the oldest member, Jim was the top performer for the 50+ team, scoring 4.5/9. The other team members were Gerard McIlroy, Vjekoslav ("Hector") Novak and Joseph A. McDonnell.
There were 54 teams in the 65+ tournament. Ireland-1 were initially ranked 33rd and Ireland-2 were seeded 49th. They finished respectively 36th and 48th so performed roughly to par. Ireloand-1 won three matches, had one walkover against a team they would probably have beaten, and lost five. So they scored 8MP. Ireland-2 won two matches and drew two, so finishing on 6MP.
Ireland-1 had a very experienced campaigner on top board, former British Senior Champion FM Andrew P. Smith who lives in Buckinghamshire. He scored 4.5/8 and gained a few rating points.
The current Irish 65+ champion Joe Noone played board 2, CM Gerard MacElligott (captain and head of delegation) was on board 3 and Michael Gaffney was board 4.
In the following game from round one, which was broadcast live, Andrew defeated French IM, Aldo Haik.
Smith-Haik: 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 e5 5. Qd2 Nf6 6. f3 O-O 7. O-O-O exd4 8. Bxd4 Nc6 9. Be3 Re8 10. Bh6 Ne5 11. h4 Nh5 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Nge2 Be6 14. Nf4 Nxf4 15. Qxf4 Qf6 16. Qd2 Rad8 17. f4 Ng4 18. h5 c6 19. Bd3 b5 20. hxg6 fxg6 21. f5 Bf7 22. Be2 gxf5 23. exf5? (23 Rdf1 would maintain the advantage; fortunately Black failed to exploit this mistake.) 23...Ne3?? (23...Nf2 would have turned the tables. Now White is winning again.) 24. Rdg1 Qxf5 $4 25. Bd3 Qg5 26. Rxh7+ Kg8 27. Ne4 Rxe4 28. Bxe4 d5 29. Bd3 d4 30. Rgh1 Kf8 31. Kb1 Qd5 32. b3 a6 33. Qf2 Ng4 34. Qh4 Ne5 35. Qf6 Ke8 36. Re1 1-0
The Ireland-2 were Bernard Boyle, Martin Wallace (captain), Brian Moore and Noel Quinn. Bernard undoubtedly found that playing top board in this company was tough and he deserves an easier spot next time he plays on one of these teams.
Noel was the team's best performer, winning four straight games at the end to finish with 5/9 and a small rating gain.
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Details of the European Senior Team Championships, to be held in Crete in late August and early September, can be found on our Seniors calendar page. Please contact Gerry MacElligott if you are interested (or respond in the Seniors Whatsapp group that he runs).
So far there are five players interested in each of the 50+ and 65+ tournaments and he hopes to have at least two 65+ teams and maybe a second 50+ team. Composition of our teams for Crete will be decided soon after the Albanian tournament in order for players to book flights etc. The closing date to enter teams is in mid-June.
Some Irish seniors are also entered for the congress in Bruges (August) and will probably fly the flag at various events later in the year in Spain. For details of these see our seniors calendar.
The organisers of the Kilkenny Chess Congress (20-22 November) have announced that the FIDE-rated Seniors event they began in 2025 will be repeated, but as an event for players aged 60+ this time. The venue will be the Club House Hotel.
See our Senior calendar for more details of events for the over-50s and our seniors news page for more information about tournaments for the over-50s.