I came home from Poland last Monday, after my team won Gold in the European Senior Championships. I also got a silver for my board with 3 wins and 4 draws, 3 of the draws being against the German Grandmaster Raj Tischbierek. The 50+ event only attracted 8 teams, which led to there being an unusual schedule of an 8 team all-play all followed by a 2 round play-off in which the first two teams played each other, then 3 and 4, 5 and 6 etc.
This may be my last outing in Senior Teams chess as there might not be funding and I might not be selected. If so then I'll leave it with a solid track record of 15 wins, 20 draws and no losses. When I've played for the first team we always won a medal and I was always in the top 3 for my board.
Team events are not for everyone but I seem to do quite well in them. There's additional pressure, especially if you represent your country, and some players struggle to cope with this. You also need to play for the team, rather than yourself, and this may include forgoing personal ambitions in order to ensure the team does well. In the 2024 European Senior Championships I offered a draw vs Chris Duncan in a winning position so as to bring the team gold, and this time I saw my job as just to neutralise Tischbierek when beating him would have given me gold for my board. This too helped ensure that England won gold as the Germans needed to beat us heavily in order to snatch the title.
There are also some positive aspects of playing for a team in the camararderie and shared purpose. When I was pursuing the Grandmaster title in the 1990s, I often found myself eating alone for the entire tournament.
Training Tournaments
This week's training tournaments return to the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is my main recommendation for White in the White 1.d4 Repertoire course
Sunday April 20th at 5pm UK Time: QGD Exchange with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6
Sunday April 20th at 6.15pm UK Time: QGD Exchange with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.Bg5 Nbd7 8.e3 0-0 9.Bd3 Re8
My Upcoming Events
I've now received an invitation to the English Senior Championships, which is something I wanted to play in. I'm still hoping to invited to Maia in August but I've yet to hear back.
Here is how things look right now:
April 24-28 2025: English Senior Championships
I've been invited to these and will play in the 50+ event. You can find details here.
May 10 - 11 2025: Nottingham Congress
I've entered this one because they offer free entry for GMs, plus if I take a bye in the first round I can get away with one night in a hotel. You can find details here.
June 21-22 2025: Ilkley Congress
As with Nottingham this is just two days, I was given a free entry and I can take a first round bye. So I'll manage to keep my costs down to one night in a hotel and petrol for getting there, this stuff is important. You can find details here.
July 31 - August 10 2025: British Championships
As mentioned above I've entered without an invite. I've also gone for the Championship itself rather than one of the old folks sections. Obviously this will be full of underrated juniors, I'll just have to play better against them this time! You can find details here.
August 21 - 30 2025: Maia Chess Festival (?)
I've played in the last couple of events and I'm hopeful that I'll be asked back. The dates are now out.
September 5-7: Hull 4NCL Congress
I'm a big fan of 4NCL Congresses because they are played in nice venues, they're invariably well organized and they offer free entry and accommodation to GMs. You can find details here:
I'll be looking for things after September, not sure when or where!
Twitch Channel
My new Twitch channel will have new shows every Monday ('Chess Questions Answered), the Webinar on training tournaments and games is up on Fridays. Please follow it if you'd like to get updates etc, all the shows will be available to Premium members in the Tiger Chess members area, even when they are no longer available on Twitch.
Have a good weekend.
Nigel
