USA & England 1 clinch World Senior Team Championship 2025
Team USA and England 1 emerged as the winner’s in the FIDE World Senior Team Championship Prague 2025 in categories Open 50+ and Open 65+ respectively. The event was organised by AVE CHESS z.s. at Olympik Hotel, Sokolovska 138, Prague from 17th to 26th Feb, 2025. The Senior world team event concluded on the day Prague Chess festival began at another part of the city, showcasing the rich chess culture prevalent in Czech Republic.
The Senior USA Open 50+ team comprised of GMs Ehlvest Jaan, Kaidanov Gregory, Shabalov Alexander, Novikov Igor and IM Rachels Stuart. With an average rating of ELO 2501 USA were the top seed ahead of England, Iceland, Italy and Kazakhstan. With 15 match points from nine rounds, USA won the title edging out Italy with better tie breaks after both logged six wins and three draws.
Shabalov 6.5/8, Ehlvest 5/8 and Novikov 5/7 helped USA stay afloat and strike the Gold medal. In a crucial penultimate round match USA overcame second seed England 1 by a narrow 2.5-1.5 score, thanks to GM Novikov’s win over GM Hebden.
Italy were able to match USA in the race by playing steady and suffered just a single loss in 36 games. In the 7th round, Italy held USA to a 2-2 draw despite IM Bellini Fabio’s defeat in the hands of GM Shabalov Alexander. Consistency was the key to Italy’s silver medal winning show. In the final round, multiple Olympiad star GM David Alberto (2467) delivered the crucial win against Hungarian IM Csiszar Csaba (2378) that helped Italy finish on top of the table along with USA. Kazakhstan took the bronze medal with 14 match points.
With 3 Grandmasters, one International Master and one FIDE Master the team England 1 (ELO 2401) looked solid on paper in the Open 65+ section. The English team’s Gold was secured by GM Nunn John 5.5/8 & IM Large Peter 7/8 who were well supported by GMs Flear, Kosten and FM Chapman. Following England 1 were silver medal winning team from Germany, Lasker Schachstiftung GK at 14 match points. Saxonia took the bronze with 13 match points and better tie-break edging out Israel.
Ehlvest Jaan (2531) – Bischoff Klaus (2432) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Be2 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. O-O Be7 8. f4 Qc7 9. a4 Nc6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Kh1 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Bd7 13. e5 Ne8 14. Qd3 Bc6 15. Bd4 Rc8 16. Rad1 dxe5 17. fxe5 g6 18. Bf3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 h5 20. Ne4 Qc6 21. Be3 Ng7 ? (Inaccuracy. 21..f5 was better)
22. Bh6 Kh7 23. Qf4 h4 24. Bg5 Nh5 25. Qxh4 Bxg5 26. Nxg5+ Kg7 27. c3 Qc4 28. Qxc4 Rxc4 29. Rd7 Kg8 30. Nxf7 1-0
Vaisser Anatoly (2452) – Nunn John (2533) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f4 O-O 6. Nf3 c5 7. dxc5 Na6 8. cxd6 exd6 9. e5 dxe5 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. fxe5 Ng4 12. Bf4 Nb4 13. Rc1 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. Nxe5 Re8 16. Kf2 Rxe5 17. Be2 Rf5+ 18. Kg3 Rg5+ 19. Kf2 Bg4 20. Bf1 Rd8 21. a3 Nc6 22. Ne4 Rf5+ 23. Kg3 Rd4 24. Nf2 h5 25. h3 ? (better would have been 25. h4)
25…h4+ 26. Kxh4 Rxf2 27. hxg4 Ne5 28. Re1 Rxg4+ 29. Kh3 Rg5 30. Kh4 Rff5 31. Be2 Rxg2 32. Kh3 Rfg5 33. Rh2 R5g3+ 0-1
Final Placings (Open 50+): 1-2 USA, Italy 15, 3 Kazakhstan 14, 4-10 England 1, England 2, Slovakia, Confluentia, Hungary, Canada, ŠK Moravská Slavia 12 match points.
Final Placings (Open 65+): 1 England 16, 2 Lasker Schachstiftung GK 14, 3-4 Saxonia, Israel 13, 5-10 England 2, France 1, Italy, Sweden 1, Switzerland, Coriolus 12 match points
Picture Courtesy: Official Site
Complete results
Official Site: https://www.wstcc2025.net/
