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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
3 March 2026
For more information about chess for over-50s, please see our Seniors calendar. Newcomers to 50+ chess should read our Seniors introduction page. We also have pages for specific British Seniors and Irish Seniors news.
There has been an important development in team declarations for the 2026 World Senior Team Championships since this page was last updated in late February. Two strong Russian teams (one male and one female) have been entered for the 65+ tournament, to play under the FIDE flag.
These championships will be held at Durres, Albania, in late April. The lists of team entries can be found on chess-results.
Readers will recall that after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of the Ukraine four years ago, FIDE voted to suspend the entry of Russian (and Belorussian) teams to its championships although players have been allowed to compete in individual competitions under the FIDE flag.
Our understanding (correct us if wrong) is that in December 2025 FIDE voted to allow Russian teams also to play under the FIDE flag in future, but this decision was appealed by the English Chess Federation and other federations. We are unsure what has been the outcome of this, or whether the appeal procvess has concluded, but it is evident that Russia is hoping to enter teams in the next Olympiad, to take place in Uzbekistan next September.
Entering teams in the World Senior 65+ Championship looks like an attempt not merely to win those events but also to "test the water" to see what level of opposition they will meet with in practice.
The 65+ tournament looks like a "soft" place to start the nornalisation process. Russian teams have not been entered for the 50+ tournament.
Whether there will be any protests or boycotts remains to be seen. Personally your editor is glad he is not going to Durres because he would certainly refuse to play against a Russian team, whether it is called Russia or FIDE, although the likelihood of Ireland being paired with the male team is probably small.
In the years before the Covid pandemic, Russia used to enter only a women's team in the 50+ section but their national teams and a St, Petersburg team regularly took the gold and silver medals in the 65+. Competition in the 65+ is fiercer nowadays and the "FIDE" team, provisionally the fifth seed, are not guaranteed a medal though they will certainly be in contention. The "FIDE" women's team is virtually certain to win the female gold medals.
The usual England-USA rivalry in the 50+ championship will be renewed while the strongest competition for the English in the 65+ tournament will now clearly come from the Russians as well as fromthe Lasker club of Germany.
As of today, we saw 36 teams listed in the 50+ and 51 entered for the 65+ (which is on a separate tab). Team lists as declared are only provisional, especially in relation to the board order which can be changed up to the technical meeting on the opening day.
The USA, defending champions in the 50+, have declared a team consisting of four GMs (led by Jaan Ehlvest) and one IM and will probably be top seeds. England-1 are second seeds with an all-GM squad headed by Michael Adams, who is by far the highest-rated individual player.
There are also strong-looking teams entered from Kazakhstan, Italy, Iceland, North Macedonia (Alkaloid chess club), Hungary, and Oslo (headed by GM Simen Agdestein), while the top-seeded women's team is from China. Other non-European teams are entered from Brazil (who hope to host next year and have two teams), Canada (Quebec and Toronto) and South Africa, as well as a US women's team and the Jhunjhnuwala brothers, also from America.
There are six English teams of widely varying strengths in the 50+ (including a women's squad), two Scottish teams and one each from Guernsey, Ireland and Wales.
In the 65+ championship, there are also six English teams entered, along with two from Ireland and one each from Scotland and Wales.
The Lasker Schachstiftung (headed by GM Artur Jussupow) will probably be top seeds in this section, but will be challenged by England-1 who have GMs John Nunn, Tony Kosten and Jonathan Mestel along with IMs Paul Littlewood and Peter Large.
Iceland are currently third seeds, France-1 is fourth and "FIDE" fifth, followed by Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan and Slovakia could also be contenders and there is a strong English second team also.
The provisional line-up for the Russian male team is GM Yuri Balashov, GM Alexander Raetsky, IM Evgenij Kalegin, IM Alexey Gorbatov and an untitled reserve, Vladimir Ponfilenok. Their women's team consists of five players who have been competing regularly in World Senior individualk championships: WGM Galina Strutinskaia, WGM Tatiana Bogumil, WGM Elena Fatalibekova, WIM Larisa Khropova and WIM Natalia Titorenko.
From outside Europe, there are two amateur teams from the USA and one from Brazil. (Kazakhstan is largely in Asia but partly in Europe according to geographers.)
Note also that details of the similar European Senior Teams event (in Crete in late August and early September) have just been released and can be downloaded from our calendar listings or from the European Chess Union website. So it is now time for national and club organisers to start assembling teams for that event, in which we hope to participate.
As with the World Senior Team championships, teams can represent nations, regions, cities, clubs or just be groups of friends. The only limitation is that all players on a team must be members of the same federation. The closing date is 26th June after which a 200 Euro fee applies to any players registered late.
Meanwhile we note the potential for a new clash over next year's competitions which could again lead to the European Chess Union having to change its plans. Clearly liaison between the two bodies could be improved.
As it stands, the ECU has gone ahead and announced that the 2027 European Senior Team Championships will be held in Acqui Terme (oh no, not that place again, we hear many of you cry!).
The dates announced are 14-24 May, but should the ECU not wait until FIDE decides which of the two bids it has received for the World Senior Team Championships should be accepted? The premature ECU announcement looks like an attempt by the ECU to bully the World body into accepting the German bid to host its 2027 event when the rival non-European bid is potentially more attractive.
As we already announced last month, the website of the FIDE Events Commission shows that the choice for the 2027 World Senior Team Championships lies between Magdeburg in lower Saxony (with dates 31st January-11 February) and Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil (proposed dates 3-13th May).
We have nothing against Magdeburg, where we should like to play sometime, but the World Senior Team Championships have never yet been held outside Europe.
We think that the Brazilian bid, with its venue close to the spectacular Iguazu waterfalls, should be looked on favourably if other details are satisfactory. The principal organiser is named as GM Lima Darcy who has been a regular at senior championships in recent years. Of course there might be fewer entries from Europe but several federations that normally do not enter would have an easier journey, which is only fair.
Clearly it is not feasible for seniors to return home from southern Brazil on 13th May and travel to Germany next day. Many federations (especially those with hopes of medals) and several individual players will want to play both events if there is a sufficient time separation between them.
The only bid listed to host the 2027 World Senior individual championships is from Italy (1-17 October) proposing Orosei on the east coast of Sardinia as the venue. The ECU calendar says that its 2027 European individual senior championships are scheduled for Chotowa in southern Poland at unspecified dates in July. (The nearest international airport is Katowice, about 36km).
We have now cleared this page of older news in preparation for events in 2026.
Back to our Seniors introduction page