World Senior Team Championships - Dresden

[George Murphy]

Could the clock be a factor? Black's 2Bs and united Passed Ps on the Q-side look pretty strong otherwise?

[Alastair White]

Dougie duly got his half point, and Steve's opponent played some fairly inconsequential moves and that game was drawn too! That leaves Colin who is rather up against it - but with a possible time scramble there could yet be some hope.

[George Murphy]

The clock times keep changing, but it looks as if Black has reached the time control. Looks lost. England A will be disappointed.

[Alastair White]

They have reached the time control. I think Colin might resign now.

[George Murphy]

All over. Black's 43rd looked pretty emphatic.

How well Scotland A performed is for others to assess, but I hope we can re-group for the final run-in. Good Luck!!

[Craig Pritchett]

On run of play today, never mind ratings, Scotland A's 2.5-1.5 loss against tournament leaders wasn't so bad. Last three rounds are crucial and there must indeed be a chance of a top 5 finish, maybe even 3 (I guess Slovakia and England A are favourites for 1 and 2, and if one of them slips, then Germany is next favourite).

So, keep playing tough on all boards and neither underestimate nor overestimate anyone in the next few days! Good luck to everyone (and team B, too!).

[Alan Borwell]

Excellent results by both teams today and well placed for good finishes, although Germany will be tough. It is very disappointing that many more games are not being shown live or games databases published daily.

[Craig Pritchett]

Germany defeating England probably wasn't a good result for Scotland A's hopes of bronze. The bookies would now pretty definitely predict a Slovakia, Germany, England top three finish ... but there remain upset prospects.

Slovakia must keep up their good form tomorrow against a Lasker Gesellschaft team that is capable of scoring a 2-2 result (or even a win on a very good day) against them. If Slovakia win (my bet), they will go into the final round at least a point ahead of the rest of the field. England A shouldn't really fail to win against their weaker German opponents, who have risen from mid-field rather than contended throughout at or near the top. But even if England A wins, they need Germany to lose against Scotland just to catch them.

Germany-Scotland, however, is the really interesting match. Scotland probably have to win to keep realistic hopes of 3rd place alive (though they can still hope for a top 5 finish even if they lose). Germany have to win to have any chance of catching and overtaking Slovakia (one point ahead), should the latter slip, AND also to keep England A at bay (one point behind) in the race for 2nd place.

This German team is more solid than brilliant and their top board, Uwe Boensch, has only played three games, so it's not clear whether he'll actually turn out. With or without Boensch, the Germans out-rate Scotland on every board by a margin that isn't all that great ... but then I've a healthy disregard for ratings and their quite large statistical margins of error that chess players who call folks by a 'number' never seem to recognise actually exists.

Germany, on home ground will be at least as nervous about this encounter. Scotland has less to lose and should certainly go for the win!

Certainly sad that only one match goes live at the Dresden web-site in this kind of situation!

[Alan Borwell]

Yes, it is frustrating that Live Boards are only available for top match in each Championship, especially at this interesting stage of the events and I have not found downloadable games databases from Dresden? Maybe our non playing TC could provide some on the ground reports including Scotland games for website?

[amuir]

From website:

FIDE Meeting for Seniors - A discussion about current topics in Senior chess

Veröffentlicht am Dienstag, 03. März 2015 10:33 von Laura Jordan (Text), Karsten Wieland (Fotos)

DSC 5736PocksteinerJordanBastianOn Saturday, February 28th 2015, FIDE Director for Seniors Dr. Dirk Jordan invited to the FIDE Meeting for Seniors. 15 players and team captains followed the invitation and met at 8.00 pm with Dr. Jordan, Herbert Bastian, FIDE Vice President, and Johann Pöcksteiner, ECU Seniors Tournament Director at the Wyndham Garden Hotel to discuss current topics in senior chess.

The topics of the meeting were, amongst othersSC 5750PrasentationFIDE Meeting

- schedule for organizing future tournaments

- assessment of the current age limits

- thinking times

- beginning of rounds

- difficulty of turning in the team line-up on time.


In addition to these topics the participants were able to express their own wishes and suggestions. Their opinion was much valued because the 3rd World Senior Team Championship is still a test event hosted by the FIDE to reach optimal modalities for playing senior chess.

The players and officials in attendance thought the meeting to be a great success and the organizers will take all the new ideas and suggestions from the participants to the next FIDE and ECU conferences.

I wonder what they decided.