Chess pieces in a wooden box (Bernard Jaubert)
The tournaments are over. The sun setting over the sea enlightens the silence of the room with a warm light. The echoes of the cheering at the award ceremony have faded, and the sound of clocks being hit and pieces being moved or captured is no longer heard. Only the regular sound of the pieces being put back into boxes and bags remains. A fascinating sound, with its hypnotic clanging of pieces against each other, indifferent to their different nobility. As they say, after the game pieces all go together in the same box. And they do so with the same sound.
First board, last board, white pieces, black pieces… all are removed from the boards in the same way.
Here are the pieces with which Israeli GM Victor Mikhalevski defeated American William Paschall in the final round, securing victory in the Over-50 category ahead of Georgian GM Mikheil Kekelidze, who failed to get more than a draw against Scotsman Paul Motwani. The pieces used by our Michele Godena to defeat Kazakh Murtas Kazhgaleyev and win the bronze medal after defeating him in a tiebreaker, are quickly gone.
The pieces with which Ukrainian Alexander Reprintsev and Georgian GM Zurab Sturua drew, as well as those from the draw between German Christian Maier and Russian Yevgeny Kalegin, are also in the same box. The Ukrainian was ultimately rewarded in the tiebreakers, winning gold in the Over-65 category ahead of the Georgian multiple Over-50 champion and the German.
The pieces of Scottish GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, which she used to draw against Czech Martina Folkova and win the gold medal in the Women’s Over-50 category, quickly slide into a bag. Immediately followed by the pieces with which Swedish GM Pia Cramling and Cuban Maritza Arribas Robaina won in the final round, finishing second and third in that order.
As the sun has now set, the pieces with which Russian Galina Strutinskaia won in the final round are inserted and sealed in a bag by tired and firm hands. A triumphant tournament for the Russian, who finished the Women’s Over-65 tournament with 10.5 out of 11 ahead of Greece’s Marina Makropoulou and Georgia’s Nona Gaprindashvili.
Now all the pieces have been put away and, along with the many boards, are ready for the next tournaments. Luckily chess never stops, and after the great adventures in Gallipoli, other tournaments are being played and will be played, in other places and with other players. After the recently concluded Senior World Championship, the FIDE World Cup has started in India, and the European Youth Championships are underway in Montenegro.
Great champions, promising young players, and players of all levels will find chessboards ready with all the pieces in place; pieces that may have been previously used by Grandmasters or former World Champions and that, who knows, will be able to convey the magic, depth, and beauty of their moves to the young people who are discovering their passion for chess.
Many thanks to the organizers, staff, volunteers, and referees who allowed the 2025 Senior World Championships to be held in Italy. Thanks to all the players who brought the pieces to life on the board, instilling in them the energy of their thoughts and the excitement of the challenges. Results are important; they create rankings and name champions, but what is even more important is that nothing is final and everything is transformed into other challenges, other games.
Just as the pieces return to their starting positions and are set for new games, so our spirit as players is renewed with every challenge. “Cыграем” (Let’s play) says Beth Harmon as the final line of the “The Queen’s Gambit” series when, in a city park, she agrees to play against one of the many old players who greet her. Let’s do the same and imagine that the King we are playing with is the one Gukesh moved to e5 to win the world title against Ding Liren.
“After the game, all pieces go together in the same box,” but then they return to the board for a new game. And the silence is broken, replaced once again by the sound of moves and clocks. Let’s play.
