ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
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U.S. Senior (50+) Open tournaments have a long history of being held at vacation spots. For the first 10 years of my own eligibility I had ignored them. The idea of going for a random open with just about $1,000 for first place just never clicked for me, mainly because of the difficulty in fitting it into an already busy summer schedule.
The change came two years ago, when the 2017 edition came to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, the site of the traditional Ole Chess camp run by a husband and wife duo, NM Kevin Bachler and Debbie Socha.
Starting on Friday afternoon, immediately following the camp's closing ceremony, the tournament had the convenience of being held in the same place, so I didn't even have to check out of my dorm room. (I recounted my experiences from that event at the time.)
Fast-forward two years and the same thing happened again, only this time the venue was North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. The event was held at the Wentz Concert Hall on campus. Located just 30 miles (ca. 48 km) west of Chicago, Naperville is a nice little town complete with a river walk and numerous bars and restaurants. This was the second year Kevin Bachler held his camp there. Caveman Chess it is!
The usual suspects, GMs Gregory Kaidanov, Yuri Shulman, Alexander Goldin, Dmitry Gurevich, (my wife) Camilla Baginskaite and yours truly comprised the instructors core, and then at the end of the week, Dmitry and I stayed on for the 2019 U.S. Senior Open.
Organizer Kevin Bachler and Arbiter Glenn Panner
Two short days later this is how things stood:
| No. | Name | Elo | Pts | Rnd1 | Rnd2 | Rnd3 | Rnd4 | Rnd5 | Rnd6 |
| 1 | Gurevich, Dmitry | 2385 | 5.5 | W41 | W34 | W17 | W29 | D2 | W13 |
| 2 | Benjamin, Joel | 2524 | 5.0 | W76 | W33 | W11 | W18 | D1 | D3 |
| 3 | Yermolinsky, Alex | 2504 | 5.0 | W77 | W21 | D10 | W22 | W12 | D2 |
| 4 | Eckert, Doug | 2123 | 5.0 | W78 | W36 | D13 | W28 | D6 | W18 |
| 5 | Jhunjhnuwala, Krishan | 2341 | 4.5 | W65 | W32 | L18 | D20 | W33 | W22 |
| 6 | Bereolos,Peter | 2178 | 4.5 | W66 | W44 | D12 | W19 | D4 | D10 |
| 7 | Dougherty, Michael | 2140 | 4.5 | D42 | W56 | W49 | L12 | W39 | W29 |
| 8 | Szpisjak, Steven J | 2061 | 4.5 | W51 | W23 | L29 | W24 | W34 | D14 |
| 9 | Vanmeter, Lester | UNR | 4.5 | W54 | W24 | D31 | D14 | D29 | W27 |
| 10 | Dandridge, Marvin | 2101 | 4.5 | W68 | W25 | D3 | D31 | W44 | D6 |
...104 players — view complete standings
Everything was decided in the last round. Gurevich had to win on demand to clinch the title, and he managed.
(L-to R) Joel Benjamin, Chip Kraft, Dmitry Gurevich
Congratulations, Dmitry! With this success he also earned a spot in the next year's U.S. Senior Invitational. In order to get an idea how senior chess is taking off (at just about the right time for your favourite author) one needs to check out Alexey Root's report.
Chief Arbiter Glenn Panner hands out the championship plaque to GM Dmitry Gurevich
Five days from now an inaugural U.S. Senior Invitational begins in St. Louis. This is a warm-up game by the two of the participants,
GM Joel Benjamin was the tournament's top seed
Joel played a couple of nice games which he generously offered for this article. I think both are very instructive and indicative of how Grandmasters outplay less sophisticated opponents.
To conclude this report I'd like to offer a little bonus coverage. Parallel with the Senior Open, a U.S. Junior Open was held. 15-year old Christopher Shen (Elo: 2283) upset Zhaozhi Li (2395) in round 5 to take first place and qualify for the U.S. Junior Invitational. Below is the game annotated by the winner!
Well done, Christopher! Thanks to Maret Thorpe for running the Junior!
More participants of the Junior Open
