England’s over-50 and over-65 seniors, who won three team golds at the 2022 world championships, could not quite match that high benchmark last week in the 2023 renewal at Struga in North Macedonia. Gold for the over-50 women and silvers for both the 65+ and 50+ first teams was still an excellent result.
England women trailed China, the dominant nation in female chess, for almost all the nine rounds, but the final round proved the decider. England women beat Finland 2.5-1.5, while China women, paired up to England 1, lost 0-4 — a swing of 6.5 points that gave England women victory by just half a game point. They also won gold in 2022 against weaker opposition.
It is a team long in experience. Sheila Jackson won silver at the 1976 Olympiad, while Susan Lalic was the Olympiad top board from 1986 to 1998. Natasha Regan came late to the event, but still scored 4/5.
England 50+ first team finished second to the US, who they narrowly beat last year. The two nations are currently closely matched. Michael Adams totalled an impressive 8/9 on top board with a performance rating of 2761. What might swing it for 2024 would be if Matthew Sadler, who turns 50 next year — and has a stellar 2694 inactive Fide rating and a newly published book (co-authored with Steve Giddins) analysing historic classical games with the aid of powerful computers — could be persuaded out of retirement.
England 65+, led by John Nunn and with strong performances from Tony Kosten and Terry Chapman, won eight of their nine matches, but their rivals Germany-Lasker won all nine.
Maybe they, too, could seek reinforcements for 2024 from the former Olympiad players Jonathan Mestel and Jonathan Speelman.
Overall, 2022 and 2023 have been vintage performances for England seniors, and this reflects the tireless and dedicated work of the ECF senior manager Nigel Povah, who was also part of the 65+ silver medal team.
The ECF would do well to continue to provide a high priority for senior chess, which enables the 1970s and 1980s generation to demonstrate their skills.
Puzzle 2540
Ian Nepomniachtchi v Magnus Carlsen. AI Cup 2023. Black to move. The world No1 chose Nf4-d3 here. Can you do better?
Click here for solution
