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Originally from Russia, Gilman now lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and competes regularly in local tournaments. In July he ttok part in the Le Bolduc II double round robin tournament, scoring 5½ out of 10 and coming in third.
Arkadi Gilman and his wife. (Photo Benoit St.-Pierre)
81 years age difference! Ilchin Rozybakiev, 9, vs Arkadi Gilman, 90. (Photos
by Benoit St-Pierre)
Arkadi Gilman against Zhe Quan (USA) during the 2003 CMA Futurity Tournament.
The game ended in a draw. (Photo Yves Casaubon)
Here's a list of the strongest active chess players over 90 in the world today
| 1 | Gilman, Arkadiy M. | RUS | 2237 | 13.03.1913 |
| 2 | Rivera, Jose | CHI | 2170 | 07.09.1907 |
| 3 | Abzhirko, Nikolay | RUS | 2112 | 04.02.1912 |
| 4 | Foglar, Stanislav | CZE | 2011 | 11.04.1913 |
| 5 | Bojdol, Joanna | POL | 2001 | 11.05.1911 |
These are the strongest nonagenarians in the FIDE list (sorted by age)
| No. | Name | Nat. | Elo | Born | |
| 1 | Gardner, Joe B. | USA | 2257 | 13.01.1900 | |
| 2 | Gresser, Gisela Kahn (WIM) | USA | 2090 | 08.02.1906 | |
| 3 | Saltzberg, Mitchell | USA | 2215 | 30.06.1907 | |
| 4 | Rivera, Jose | CHI | 2170 | 07.09.1907 | |
| 5 | Palme, Rudolf | AUT | 2220 | 06.03.1910 | |
| 6 | Benko, Francisco | ARG | 2147 | 24.06.1910 | |
| 7 | Dake, Arthur William (GM) | USA | 2330 | 08.04.1910 | |
| 8 | Lilienthal, Andor (GM) | HUN | 2385 | 05.05.1911 | |
| 9 | Bojdol, Joanna | POL | 2001 | 11.05.1911 | |
| 10 | Abzhirko, Nikolay | RUS | 2112 | 04.02.1912 | |
| 11 | Trias Fernandes, Ramon | ESP | 2091 | 24.06.1912 | |
| 12 | Baslavsky, Ilia | RUS | 2110 | 10.10.1912 | |
| 13 | Secula, Victor | GER | 2102 | 04.11.1912 | |
| 14 | Gilman, Arkadiy M. | RUS | 2237 | 13.03.1913 | |
| 15 | Foglar, Stanislav | CZE | 2011 | 11.04.1913 | |
| 16 | Jonas, Oldrich | CZE | 2004 | 24.08.1913 | |
| 17 | Ader, Walter | CHI | 2270 | 07.11.1913 |
Notes: Joe Gardner would appear to be 103 years old. Joe Rivera actually took part in a FIDE tournament in 2003 at the age of 96. Joanna Bojdol of Poland, the only women in this field, did the same at 92 years. And of course there's the incredible 92-year-old Andor Lilienthal, who is no longer active, but believe it or not has chalked up wins against the likes of Marshall, Tartakower, Lasker, Capablanca and Alakhine. You don't believe us? Check out the second half of this report.
This year Gilman has played in the Avenir III, Le COQ 2003 and Le Bolduc II tournaments. Here is the final standing of BOLDUC II Section A:
Grondin,J - Gilman,A [D15]
Le Bolduc II - A Montreal CAN (1), 22.09.2003
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Be2 Bxf3 8.gxf3
e6 9.Rg1 Bb4 10.Bb2 0-0 11.Qc2 bxc4 12.bxc4 Nbd7 13.Kf1 Nh5 14.f4 Qh4 15.Rg5
Watch the 90-yea-old fox go after the white rook: 15...Ndf6 16.Bf3 Bd6 17.Ne2 Qh3+ 18.Bg2 Qxh2 19.Bc1? (19.Ng1 was better) 19...h6 20.Ng1 hxg5 21.Nf3 Ng3+ 22.fxg3 Qxg3 23.Nxg5 g6 24.Bd2 Ng4 0-1.
Gilman,A - Grondin,J [D02]
Le Bolduc II - A Montreal CAN (6), 08.10.2003
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.c4 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Rc1 e6 8.Be2
0-0 9.0-0 h6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Ne5 Ne7 12.Na4 Nf5 13.h3 Re8 14.Qc2 c6 15.Qb3
Ne4 16.Qb6 Qe7 17.a3 Nh4 18.Qb4 Qd8 19.Nd3 Bf8 20.Qb6 Qf6 21.Qc7 Re7
Where would you move your queen as white? Arkadi Gilman went for 22.Qd8 b5? The secret of chess: maximise the opportunities for your opponent to make mistakes! 23.Nb6! 1-0.
Information provided by Neil Sullivan and Yves Casaubon
A few hours after this article went online Adolivio Capece, editor of the Italien chess magazine L'Italia Scacchistica, wrote us: " I am really surprised that in the list there is not GM Enrico Paoli, born on January 13, 1908 (in two months he will be 96!!). He is still playing at Master level chess. In 2003 he played the internationale tournaments in Saint-Vincent and in Bratto. He will play in Milano in December and will receive a special prize by the ECU that will be awarded next February in Saint-Vincent. He lives in Reggio Emilia and is the main organizator of the famous international tournament there. Probably he is the oldest player at Master level in the world.
