Senior Polish Chess Championship 2019

Chess is a sport for everyone - both young and old fans of this royal game. In November, Bucharest will host another Senior World Championship, and in April, Ustron hosted National Senior and Senior Championships. Competitions were held in three categories for men (55+, 65+, 75+) and one for women (50+). All four groups first played together in the open category and then were classified separately.

The Senior World Championships, also sometimes referred to as the Veterans Championships, have been held since 1991.

Senior World Championship

In the first dozen editions, world champions among chess players over 50 years old and champions over 60 years old were selected. In 2014, the age criteria were changed. Since then, medals have been awarded in two age groups - over 50 and over 65 (for both women and men).

Previous winners include both former world champions in classical chess - Nona Gaprindashvili i Vasily Smyslov, as well as many contenders for this title.

In the last championship (twenty-ninth) played in 2018 in Bled, Slovenia, the Czech grandmaster Jansa ruled he won in the 65+ category, at the age of 76, and the famous Georgian won in the 65+ group, at the age of 77! Grandmaster was the best in the 50+ category Karen Movshizyan from Armenia and a Luxembourgish grandmaster of Kazakh origin Elvira Berend (1)

1. Winners of last year's Senior World Championships in Bled, Slovenia (photo: wscc2018.european-chessacademy.com)

Among the representatives of Poland, she was the most successful at the adult World Championships. Hannah Erenska-Barlo (2), who won the championship in 2007 and was runner-up in 1998 and 2005.

2. Hannah Erenska-Barlo, 2013 (photo: Przemyslav Yar)

This year the individual world championship among seniors will be held in Bucharest from 11 to 24 November (3). Competition information can be found on the website. https://worldseniors2019. com. The next issue, already the thirtieth, is scheduled for November 6-16, 2020 in Assisi, Italy.

3. The next Senior World Championship will be held at the RIN Grand Hotel in Bucharest, November 2019.

Senior Polish Championship

The first tournament of the Polish Championship among seniors (that is, chess players over 55) took place in 1995 in Yaroslavets. Women (players over 50) compete alongside men but are classified separately.

After a three-year break - in 2014-2016 - the championship was held in Ustron from April 2 to April 9, 2017 according to a new formula. Since then, competitions have been held annually in Ustron in one open group according to the Swiss system over a distance of nine rounds, and players are classified into groups 75+, 65+, 55+ and 50+ (women).

In the twenty-two championships she has played, she has won eight times. Lyucina Kravtsevichand five times hedgehog cat.

2019 Senior Polish Championship, Ustron Jaszowiec, XNUMX

4. Participants of the XNUMXth Polish Senior Chess Championship (photo: Department of Advertising, Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ustron City Hall)

The tournament was attended by 171 players, including nine women (4). The honorary patronage of the competitions was taken over by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who financed cups and medals for the best participants in four groups (5). The main competition, organized by the city of Ustron and the Mokate group, was accompanied, as every year, by a tournament for preschoolers and children under 10 from the Teshin region and Rybnik (6).

5. Cups and medals for the winners (photo by Jan Sobotka)

6. Tournament for preschoolers and children under 10 years old (photo by Jan Sobotka)

In the 55-65 age category, the Polish champion among seniors became the FIDE champion. Henrik Seifert before Miroslav Slavinsky and international champion Jan Przewoznik (7)

7. Winners of the championship in the category 55-65 years old (photo: Jan Sobotka)

In the category of 66-75 years old, he won Petr Gasik before the FIDE champion Ryszard Grossman i Kazimierz Zavada (8)

8. Piotr Gasik (right) – Senior Polish Champion in the 66-75 category and runner-up Ryszard Grossman (photo: Jan Sobotka)

FIDE champion wins over 75 category Vladislav Poedzinets before Janusz Venglars i Slavomir Krasovsky (nine). The oldest participant in the tournament among men was 9 years old Michal Ostrowski from Lancut and 81 among women Lyucina Kravtsevich.

9. Winners of the championship in the category over 75 years old (photo: Jan Sobotka)

Interchampion became Champion of Poland Liliana Lezner before Lydia Krzyzanowska-Jondlo and FIDE Champion Elizaveta Sosnovskaya. She finished fourth Lyucina Kravtsevich - eight-time national champion among adults.

10. Winners of the Polish Senior Championship (photo by Jan Sobotka)

The main referee of the tournament was an experienced international referee Jacek Matlakwho, together with a team of referees, conducted the competition with great care and objectivity. We add that the organizers of the championship are a group of enthusiasts - seniors 50+: Petr Bobrovsky, Jan Jalovicor i Pavel Halama. These are retired players who, out of love for the "royal game", organize the tournament honestly, free of charge.