Monday, October 27: Rest day in Gallipoli. Six rounds have been completed at the World Senior Championships, and the tables in the four competitions have taken shape, but nothing has been decided yet. Tomorrow, the exciting final phase of the competitions begins with five more important games for all participants.
In the Women’s 50+ category, Pia Cramling is the big favorite. However, the Swedish grandmaster could not manage more than two draws, while Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant collected 4.5 points from the first five rounds. In round six, the two faced each other directly. Cramling, playing white, retained a minimal endgame advantage with her pair of bishops, but Arakhamia-Grant was able to neutralize this confidently and now leads the table by half a point ahead of Cramling, Masha Klinova, and Silvia Alexieva.
In the women’s 65+ competition, multiple world champion Nona Gabrindashvili is the big favorite, but surprisingly, Galina Strutinskaia leads the field by a full point before the rest day. Strutinskaia conceded only one draw, while winning the important top-of-the-table clash against Gabrindashvili in round 5 in a beautifully played positional game and now has the best prospects of winning the world title.
Meanwhile, the open competitions for players aged 50+ and 65+ have attracted significantly more participants, which is why the field is very close in both cases.
In the 50+ competition, four players are tied for the lead with 5 out of 6: grandmasters Michal Krasenkow, Mikheil Kekelidze, Rogelio Antonio, and Victor Mikhalevski.
Antonio’s victory with the black pieces against fellow favorite Murtas Kashgaleyev in round 5 was remarkable: he fended off his opponent’s attempts to attack, countered successfully, and won elegantly in the endgame.
The game between Kekelidze and Darcy Lima in round 6 was highly dramatic: the latter was close to promotion with two connected passed pawns, while Kekelidze had to checkmate Lima’s king with sacrifices. The advantage changed hands several times, but in the end Kekelidze prevailed.
Eleven players are tied for second place with 4.5 points, including the nominal favorites Kashgaleyev, Kiril Georgiev, and Alexandre Quashashvili—at just 50 years old, one of the youngest participants.
The competition remains extremely exciting and anything is still possible.
That leaves the Open 65+ competition, which is the largest with 233 participants. Here, one player leads the field alone with 5.5 points: Alexander Mikhalevski. He is the older brother of Victor Mikhalevski, who is currently co-leader among the young seniors. Unlike his GM brother, Alexander only holds the IM title, but still has a strong Elo rating and has proven his enormous playing strength.
After a draw in his opening game, he won five times in a row.
Mikhalevski is followed by a group of ten players with 5 points. His opponent tomorrow is Zurab Sturua, the number one seed. The 66-year-old Sturua became the 50+ World Senior Champion in Assisi in 2022.
Here, too, the final rounds promise to be extremely exciting and dramatic.
(IM Frank Zeller)
