Senior World Championships in Bucharest

Chess and bridge in Romania's capital

"Beat them while they are young" is the credo of Simon Williams, when he refers to dealing with prodigious talents in chess. This principle could be supplemented by an addendum: "...or if you catch them vulnerable again in old age".

The arrival in Bucharest worked out well and was properly organized. A bus drove the participants through the city and the diplomatic quarter until reaching the hotel, located on the northern outskirts. In fact, the venue is lacking in attractive sights and there is little chance to walk around and find nice destinations, a flaw pointed out by some of the participants. If you want something besides the charm of the hotel, you have to drive to the historical city centre, which is about six kilometres away, near the voluminous parliament. There is where some impressive buildings, Orthodox churches, restaurants and pubs are located.

Some magnificent buildings in the old town

To call Bucharest "the Paris of the East", as the city is usually depicted by tour guides, is an exaggeration.

The food in the hotel is generally praised by the participants, but it is a bit boring for a 14-day period. The absence of spoons and saucers at breakfast takes some getting used to, especially at a four-star hotel. Since you automatically booked full board in the hotel by registering to participate, daring to visit the distant city centre provokes some reticence. These are precisely the compromises that did not appeal to all participants in Bled in 2018. Not every player is as resolute as Terry Chapman though, who left the tournament before half time.

Two unpleasant incidents were seen so far. A participant from Scotland suffered a stroke at breakfast — he was taken care of quickly and is now in a hospital near the hotel. Another player fell while taking a walk and bruised badly, but fortunately he is still playing. As a rule, falls in Bucharest are different, at least chess-wise.

Favourites stumble

In Bucharest, four new Senior World Champions in two age groups will be crowned. The tournament started with a few considerable surprises. In the 50+ women's section, the two rating favourites lost their round one games. Defending champion Elvira Berend from Luxembourg and German IM Zoya Schleining lost on opening day.

How to play the Sicilian Defence!

The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.

Elvira Behrend won the blitz tournament organized during the rest day

In the 50+ Open, several top grandmasters — Shabalov, Lima and Dvoirys — gave up points against weaker players. In round two, reigning European Champion Zurab Sturua lost against Davaki Prasad. The same phenomenon was seen in the 65+ Open, where defending champion Vlastimil Jansa lost his opening encounter. Only Nona Gaprindashvili started with all guns blazing, winning her first four games.

Nona Gaprindashvili

Let us take a look at the games mentioned above, with some of the strongest players rating-wise losing the thread against weaker opposition:

But chess players were not the only ones suffering upsets in Bucharest. In the RIN Grand, the same hotel that serves as a venue for the events, bridge players competed at the European Champions' Cup from November 14^th to the 16^th. The favourites from Monaco and Italy suffered setbacks, allowing the Dutch squad "Onstein" to take first place, followed by the "English Champions", who got the silver. More information about the European Champions' Cup can be found here.

What usually happens in the chess world is that in the end the favourites tend to prevail anyway. So, besides the accidents suffered by some of the strongest players in the field, there were also surprising turnarounds and missed opportunities. The most surprising of these certainly was the victory of Zurab Sturua (2540) over Tufan Uzuner (1870), in which the Georgian lost his queen early in the game, but did not give up...

After eight rounds, both open sections have sole leaders on 7 out of 8 points. Ukrainian GM Vadim Shishkin and Italian GM Carlos Garcia Palermo are atop the standings in the 50+ and 65+ categories respectively. Among the women, Tatiana Bogumil from Russia (6½ points) and Brigitte Burchardt from Germany (6) are leading the 50+ and 65+ sections. 

During the rest day, a blitz tournament was organized. Elvira Berend chose not to participate in the women's section and ended up taking first place in the 50+ section. In the 65+ category, a certain Magnus finished first — not Carlsen but Wahlbom, an untitled player from Sweden. Nina Sirotkina won the women's event.

Standings after Round 8 - 50+ Open (top 15)

Typical mistakes by 1600-1900 players

Some mistakes repeat themselves often in amateur games. With themes such as "Miscalculating Forcing Lines", "Being Too Materialistic" and "King Safety" Nick Pert shows you how to avoid making typical mistakes.

...138 players

Standings after Round 8 - 65+ Open (top 15)

...192 players

Standings after Round 8 - 50+ Women (top 15)

Master Class Vol.2: Mihail Tal

On this DVD Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller present the 8. World Chess Champion in video lessons: his openings, his understanding of chess strategy, his artful endgame play, and finally his immortal combinations.

...21 players

Standings after Round 8 - 65+ Women

...more details

All available games - 50+ open section

Games available at Live.Chessbase.com: 65+ Open | 50+ Women | 65+ Women

Translation from German and additional reporting: Carlos Colodro

Links

• Official site