Posts: 445
Threads: 52
Joined: Aug 2011
Reputation:
3
For a "World" tournament the worldwide entries are rather sparse.
Out of 81 teams entered there are
- 46 German teams and
- 0 from outside Europe
Posts: 94
Threads: 3
Joined: Nov 2011
Reputation:
0
There are always numerous German club teams for these events in Dresden. Calling it a World Seniors Team Championship is really a misnoma, with few "national" teams and hardly any from outside Europe. Also the decision by FIDE to reduce the age eligibility to 50+ was highly controversial as few countries would designate players age 50+ as "senior". These events were popular for real seniors ie 65+ or 60+ but were not designed for "professional" teams. Both FIDE and ECU will need to review arrangements for future senior team events. Of course, rich federations or those having generous sponsors, will persuade more leading 50+ players to play. The venue in Dresden is not really very suitable for large numbers of teams as main playing room(s) are small with the hotel also having limited number of rooms and located a long way from Dresden centre or other hotels.
Many thanks to all CS friends who have sent kind messages - I am feeling better after 3 weeks in hospital :-)
Posts: 403
Threads: 57
Joined: Feb 2012
The top Scottish team would not raise an eyebrow if it were the same selection for next Olympiad.
English team with Short and Nunn is also quite exciting to see (for me at least) - I wonder when we last saw that 1,2 line up?
Above being said, I am with Alan on the new 50+ rule. It's not right. We just add to the long list of daft decisions from FIDE.
Posts: 207
Threads: 18
Joined: Sep 2011
Reputation:
1
Good luck to the teams at Dresden. Starts tomorrow.
I tend to agree that 50+ is ridiculously young to be a 'senior' in chess. Botvinnik (b 1911) was world champion till 50+ (defeated by Petrosian in 1963). But these are the new rules!
My main concern, however, is that in introducing the new age limits, 50+ and 65+ - two separate events these days, for both seniors team and individual euro and world championships - FIDE / ECU unthinkingly, not to say quite crassly, and without bothering to ask member federations or competitors about their views on any possible change, abolished the 'old' 60+ championships, which had great traditions, popularity and economic viability ...
... the roll call of the 60+ world seniors individual champions from the inception of the event in the very early 1990s is particularly impressive, including real greats (still playing well!), including the likes of Smyslov, Geller, Taimanov, Korchnoi and so on. Last year's 65+ winning TPR (around 2500) was some 100+ ELO points lower than in most recent 60+ years. That's an awful lot.
I've been told that ECU and FIDE will review the value of the recent rule changes later in the year at their late summer assemblies. I'm lobbying strongly (and there are many others) to abolish the 65+ events to be replaced by the 'old' 60+ championships ... asap!
Entries and overall strength were both markedly down in these largely unwanted new 65+ events in 2014 (their first year) compared to the old 60+ championships. 65+ is simply too old to set an age qualification for a truly attractive and competitive seniors event.
Trouble is that ECU / FIDE fear (I think, though they won't say this publicly) that if they bring back the 60+ events, it will destroy the 50+ events ... which last year hugely depended on 'attracting' sufficient decent 60-65 year-olds to make up the numbers (and strength!) ... as the 50+ players aren't really biting in sufficient numbers to make these 50+ events viable without attracting 'real' oldies!!
That's daft, of course. And there's a real danger that many 60-65 players and many, too, in the 65+ age range, who want a more competitive tournament, will simply vote with their feet.
It is all a bit of a mess!
Posts: 979
Threads: 92
Joined: Sep 2011
Reputation:
1
Whatever the age limits, lets support the Scottish teams here.
It is not often Scotland is seeded 4 in a world championship.
This is because the players of our A team are products of the period when Scottish chess was its most flourishing and there were many opportunities to develop.
Posts: 94
Threads: 3
Joined: Nov 2011
Reputation:
0
Unfortunately, not for the first time, it seems that the organisation in Dresden has not moved with the times and only 2 matches from the 50+ group seem to be live. In Greece last October every game in the two events were transmitted live! I think Dresden has too much influence in ECU/FIDE when other venues/federations are moving ahead of them like Greece, Slovenia, Croatia. Also I cannot find the full pairings for both the events. Hopefully things will improve so we can see how our two teams are progressing. I agree with Craig's views :-)
Posts: 207
Threads: 18
Joined: Sep 2011
Reputation:
1
Martin's link also gives results for previous rds.
Scotland A won 3.5-0.5; Scotland B 2-2 (against higher-rated team). Good starts! Long way to go.
It is a surprise that there are only one or two live board relays. I thought Dresden would have done much better on that score. There's also a lack of pgn data, so no idea how any of the Scottish round 1 games went (apart from the results alone).
Posts: 94
Threads: 3
Joined: Nov 2011
Reputation:
0
It seems that the organisation in Dresden has not progressed much from previous times when there were few Live Boards and game scores were not available until they had been transcribed and issued as printed bulletins. For the World Seniors Individual Championships in Greece last October we had every game on Live Boards :-) Also other events use the excellent Chess Results service with all related round by round statistics. Before ECU and FIDE grant hosting rights nowadays they should require similar facilities to those as provided in Greece.
