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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:
15 September 2026
This page for British senior chess news was created in order to leave the main Seniors news page free for international chess news for the over-50s. For more information about chess for over-50s, please see our Seniors calendar and our Seniors introduction page. We also now have an Irish seniors page separate from other Irish news.
Eight English teams (a total of 38 players) finished participating last Friday in the European Senior Team Championships at Hersonissos, on the Greek island of Crete. England won the 50+ tournament and finished as runners-up in the 65+, also taking home the women's 50+ title in the absence of any opposition.
The ECF website carries round-by-round reports but their senior organiser IM Nigel Povah regrets that the round nine report was a draft uploaded in error. We are still waiting to see a correction. That report says the English 50+ team easily defeated Ireland 4-0 but in fact the top board game was drawn and Irish FM John Delaney, who came close to beating Stuart Conquest, went through the tournament unbeaten.
Several English players also won awards for one of the best three individual performances on their boards, decided by rating performance.
As usual, entries were much smaller than for the World Senior Teams which were held in April, but in the absence of any teams from Germany, the low number of 32 was disappointing especially as the venue and organisation of the event were especially good.
Therefore, before making any criticism of English results, the ECF and their senior organiser IM Nigel Povah need to be congratulated on fielding 25% of the teams that played in Crete. As he admitted to us afterwards, the top English teams could and should be stronger but they can only send players who are willing to play, and several of the stars of the past no longer play much chess.
England went into defending champions in both the 50+ and 65+, and in 2025 England-2 also won bronze in the 50+ tournament. This time England-2 were fifth in the 50+ while England-2 and England-3 in the 65+ finished fifth and sixth.
Slovenia's victory in the 65+ was less surprising when you see that they outranked the English squad on all but top board and Italy were higher ranked on ine board. GM John Nunn led the team as usual, supported by GM Tony Kosten and IMs John Pigott, Nigel Povah and Peter Large.
In the 50+, the average rating of England and their main rivals, Italy, was very close and it was the superior English performance against the Dutch that decided the gold and silver medals, with all the other teams being rather weaker on some boards at least.
England-1 lined up in the 50+ as GMs Stuart Conquest, Danny Gormally, Mark Hebden, and captain John Emms. They all went through undefeated though Irish FM John Delaney was close to beating Stuart in the last round (and drew). It should also be noted that Hebden could have played on the 65+ team.
As we are still away from home, we don't have time to comment on individual English performances at this time, with one notable exception.
The England-1 reserve in the 50+, 2262-rated IM Graeme Buckley had an outstanding tournament, scoring 6/6 for an amazing Rp of 2766 and a rating gain of about 10. Buckley did not play against Slovakia or Italy but was just too good for the board four players on other teams.
Team lists, results, and pairings can now be seen at the chess-results site.
Ireland also sent one team each in the 50+ and 65+ tournaments. Unfortunately Scotland and Wales did not participate.
The England players in the 65+ scored as follows.
England-1: John Nunn 6.5/8 (second board prize); Anthony Kosten 6/8 (second best on board 2); John Pigott 4.5/6; Nigel Povah 4/6; Peter Large 7/8 (best score by a reserve despite leaving a rook en prise in the lalst round).
England-2: Chris Baker 3.5/8; Paul Townsend 6.5/8 (third best on board two); Brian Hewson 3/7; Charles Higgie 2.5/7; Robert Noyce 3/6.
England-3: Tim Spanton 5/9; Jon Freeman 3/9; John Guilfoyle 4/9; Edgar Wilson 7.5/9 (third best on board 4).
England-4: Stephen Williams 4/9; Robert Kane 2/9; Kevin Winter 3/8 (and one forfeit due to illness); Kevin Cox 2/9.
The England players in the 50+ scored as follows.
England-1: Stuart Conquest 5/8 (third best on top board); Danny Gormally 7/8 (best on board 2); Mark Hebden 5.5/7 (second best on board 3); John Emms 7/7 (best result on board 4); Graeme Buckley 6.6 (best score by a reserve).
England-2: Stephen Dishman 5.5/9; Malcolm Pein 3.5/5; Chris Duncan 5.5/9; Martin Burrows 4/8; Clive Frostick 2.5/5 (second best by a reserve).
England-Women: Susan Lalic 4/9; Sheila Jackson 4/9; Petra Fink-Nunn 4./8; Helen Frostick 1/5; Irina Troshina 0/5.
England-4: Natasha Regan 1/4; Stephen Homer 2.5/9; Peter Hasson 4/9; Matthew Ball 2/7; Andy Proudfoot 0.5/7.
There are a few points to note here. Malcolm Pein and Natasha Regan could only arrive mid-way through the event. Some of the women could play 65+ if there were enough others to make a team and maybe that can be organised next year.
The Frosticks (who played each other, Clive winning) left after five rounds for a family wedding but reserves only had to play five games to qualify for an award. Irina Troshina (originally from Ukraine but a long-time English resident) had not played competitive chess for decades but achieved a couple of good positions before her inexperience showed and she will do better next time.
The fourth team in each section is always entered to accommodate those who wish to play without any expectations of results.
The new British 65+ Champion is GM Keith Arkell and the new 50+ champion is FM Stephen Dishman.
These tournaments were played from 3-9 August as part of the British Championships (which ran from 1st-9th August). Full results can be seen at chess-results and on the English Chess Federation website.
Arkell scored 6/7 in the 65+ championship. He finished a clear point ahead of a group of 7 players on five points who included Welsh IM John Cooper, FM Terry Chapman, former winner FM Andrew P. Smith (Ireland) and Mike Dougherty (Canada) who is currently researching a chess history PhD at De Montfort University in Leicester. There were 66 competitors.
In the 50+ championship, which had 58 players, Dishman scored 6/7 ahead of IM Neil Bradbury and untitled Martin Burrows who were half a point behind.
GM Michael Adams, who is still eligible for the 50+, tied joint second in the main championship with GM Luke McShane, both half a point behind teenage sensation GM Shreyas Royal who becomes champion for the first time. The ECF, who worked hard a few years ago to help Shreyas's family gain right of residence in Britain, deserve a pat on the back.
The English Senior Championships (open as usual only to players registered as ENG with FIDE) will take place later this year. You can find details on all these events at the English Chess Federation website.
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