The FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championship concluded on July 11 in Krakow, Poland, with the United States coming out on top in the over-50 division and England winning the over-65 division. A total of 65 teams and 307 players participated, including 32 grandmasters.
The FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championship 2024 has officially concluded!
Congratulations to all the winners 🏆🥇 Over 50: United States 🇺🇸
🥇 Women over 50: Estonia 🇪🇪
🥇 Over 65 years old: England 1 🏴
🥇 Women over 65: Latvia 🇱🇻ℹ️ The FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championships (over 50 and over 65) were held in… pic.twitter.com/nwXNAM2Csv
— International Chess Federation (chess) July 12, 2024
Teams consisted of four players, and the women’s team competed in conjunction with the open tournament. Each event was nine rounds of Swiss-style play, with 40 moves over 90 minutes, 30 minutes to end the game, plus an additional 30 seconds added to each move.
Seniors aged 50 and over
The U.S. team was made up of G.M. Yan Elvest, Alexander Shabalov, Melikset Khatyan, Igor Novikov and Alex Ermolinskiy. The same players were on the team that won back-to-back championships in North Macedonia last year, except Khatyan replaced GM Grigory Kaydanov.
Top 10 Teams | Seniors 50+
(See the full standings here.)
The United States lost to Italy in the fourth round, but won every other round thereafter. They took sole first place after the seventh round and held that lead.
The eighth round was the most dominant round with a clean 4-0 victory against Israel. On the top board, Ehlvest had a spectacular finish, destroying GM Michael Oratovsky’s Sicilian Defense in 20 moves.
There were six women’s teams, with Estonia beating the US team by 0.5 points. The players were WIM Monika Tsiganova, WFM Regina Narva, WGM Tatyana Fomina and Kersti Korge. On board 1, Tsiganova was underdog in all individual matches but managed to score a respectable 6/9. Her rating was 1999 and her performance was 2347, giving her 78 rating points.
Her biggest upset came in the final round against FM Kirsten Schuster, where she unleashed some great offense against Karo Kang.
Seniors aged 65 and over
England won the gold medal in the over-65s category thanks to GM’s efforts. John Nunn, Anthony Kosten, Jonathan Mestel, IM Paul Littlewood, FM Terry Chapman.
(See the full standings here.)
For England, this was more than just a team win, with legendary general manager Michael Adams and Nunn (the current senior individual world champions over 50 and over 65) winning individual gold medals in their respective categories.
Congratulations to Great Britain’s John Nunn and Michael Adams for winning individual gold medals at the Over-65 and Over-50 World Senior Championships in Krakow. Nunn also won team gold! https://t.co/qG0y1qLDHR pic.twitter.com/PmjrFWiVWz
— Chess24 (Chess24.com) July 11, 2024
England were unbeaten with seven wins and two draws. Except for the sixth round, when France briefly took sole possession of first place, England were always at least tied for first place.
Nunn performed a miniature 15-move set in the final round against Finland’s IM Timothy Bingham, with an elegant “sacrifice” on the final move.
Speaking of miniatures, we should also mention Adams’ 19-move win over GM Johan Hjartarsson, a +50 group win that was another great result for England.
Latvia won the women’s gold medal with a score of +2 -3 =4, beating Poland and the United States with three teams: WGM Tamara Vilerte, Astra Goldmane, WFM Liga Ungure, WFM Ingrida Priedite, and Vija Rozlapa.
The individual World Senior Chess Championship will be held in Porto Santo, Portugal in November, and more recently, the U.S. Senior Championship will be held next week from July 16-26 in St. Louis.
Highlights from the Closing Ceremony of the 2024 FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championship! #SeniorChess #WSTCC pic.twitter.com/MclxOJOKG8
— International Chess Federation (chess) July 12, 2024
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The 2024 FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championship took place in Krakow, Poland from July 2-11. There were categories for over 50 and over 65, with women’s and open teams competing together. Each event was a nine-round Swiss-style match consisting of four players. The time limit was 90 minutes with 40 moves, with 30 minutes to end the game, plus 30 seconds for each move.