World Senior Team Championships, Rhodes 2019

Tim Harding

Good luck to the two Irish teams who start competing this afternoon in the World Senior Team Championships, at Rhodes in Greece.

This is a 9-round event, one game a day.

Our teams (4 of the 5 play each day) are:
50+: John Delaney, Paul Wallace, Gerry MacElligott, Brendan Lyons and Gabriel Matthews.
65+: Pete Morriss, Orison Carlile, Jim Murray, John Gibson and Peter Lynch.

I expect the top matches will be live on chess24 etc.

The team lists, pairings and later the results are at
http://chess-results.com/tnr426179.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30
(One tab for the 65+ and another for the 50+).

Our 50+ team, who did so well last year, have a tough first assignment against second seeds Armenia, so we shall probably see Rafael Vaganian v John Delaney, unless Vaganian is rested. This match should be shown live.

USA are top seeds; they play Scotland.

Our 65+ team meet Iceland. (With 27 teams they have given the bye to 17th seed Belgium, which is unusual; maybe one of their team is late arriving.)

Board pairings should be available well in advance for most rounds but round 1 is always a rush to get things organised after the captains' meeting when final team declarations are made.

ishidaogo

We had chances of drawing with Iceland in Round 1 of the over 65 but lost 1 3 after 5 hours play, Pete and I drew,
The youngsters fought valiantly against Armenia but lost 0 4 in the end,

macelligott

The 50+ team met the, all GM, Armenian team in round 1. All games lasted more than 3.5 hours, but we were eventually ground down and lost 4-0
The 65+ team played Iceland who were the higher seeded team. However, the Irish team were playing well and looked likely to score 4 draws or even nick a win. But in the last hour things drifted and only Pete Morriss and John Gibson could secure two draws.

Tim Harding

Good luck today to both teams!

Tim Harding

The 50+ match against Athens Veterans just started and is live at https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/world-senior-team-championship-s50/2/9/1

The 65+ team play Wales but that match is not live, it seems.

zeitnot

Ouch! One of those days.

macelligott

Round 2: The 50+ team had a bad day and lost to Greece 3.5 - 0.5 Paul Wallace on board two was the only player to draw. On paper, Ireland were the better team. Unfortunately the pieces were plastic - not paper :-)
The 65+ team suffered a similar fate losing 3.5 - 0.5 to Wales.
The captains know where the buck stopps and have bot dropped themselves for the third round!

Tim Harding

It gets worse for the 65+ team because now they have to play France, one of the strongest teams, who have also lost twice - perhaps in shock after the Notre Dame disaster?

macelligott

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=478042&stc=1&d=1555575603

macelligott

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=478043&stc=1&d=1555575854

Tim Harding

Glad to see a better showing today: the 50+ team beat England 3-1 (wins for Paul Wallace and Brendan Lyons) and they play Latvia Women tomorrow.
Although the 65s lost to France it was by the narrowest margin: Orison Carlile drew and John Gibson won, both playing IMs.

Pete lost to GM Vaisser (multiple times Senior World Champion) but I don't know what happened as the live board died after 1 b4 e5.
Tomorrow the 65s play one of the Finnish teams, Turku, and a close match is in prospect.

Pete Morriss

Tim Harding wrote: »

Pete lost to GM Vaisser (multiple times Senior World Champion) but I don't know what happened as the live board died after 1 b4 e5.

Which is fortunate for me. I was comprehensively outplayed, as one would expect. I don't know if the organizers will enter all the missing games from here into the databases, but the world will not be deprived of anything if this game remains unknown.

macelligott

Thursday 18th was a better day for the Irish teams. The 50+ scored 3-1 against England 3. Paul Wallace and Brendan Lyons won, while John Delaney and Gabriel Matthews drew. This was the first match win by the 50+ team after two earlier losses.

The 65+ were paying a strong French team who fielded one GM and 3 IM's. One might expect a 4-0 drubbing was in order. However, John Gibson defeated his IM opponent in great style while Orison Carlile drew against his IM opponent. Pete Morriss couldn't handle his GM opponent and lost. Peter Lynch managed to put up a better fight but was eventually defeated.
Games are broadcast live (3pm Greek time) on https://chess24.com/en/dashboard.
Today 50+ play the Latvian women. The 65+ play Torku from Finland.

Tim Harding

Another hard day in the office at Rhodes, I see, with the 65+ team getting a day off tomorrow (and 1MP for the bye?) as a result.
They will probably get Mongolia Women for Easter, a match we won last year! Two days to prepare...

Congratulations to Pete and Gerry on their wins, though, and to Jim Murray who drew.

macelligott

Today, Saturday, Ireland drew 2 - 2 against Uruguay in the 50+ section. John Delaney won on board 1 while I drew on board 2. With Brendan Lyons losing on board 3 it was up to Gabriel Matthews to salvage something from the match. Gabriel fought for over five and a half hours to secure the draw necessary to tie the match.
The 65+ team had a bye today.

macelligott

Sunday Round 6:
The 50+ team will play the German woman’s team.
The 65+ team will play the Mongolian woman’s team.

macelligott

Sunday Round 6: 50+ team beat German Women 3-1. John Delaney and Paul Wallace won. Gerard MacElligott and Brendan Lyons drew.
65+ team drew 2-2 against the Mongolian Women. Pete Morriss and Orison Carlile won. John Gibson and Peter Lynch lost.

Tim Harding

macelligott wrote: »

Sunday Round 6: 50+ team beat German Women 3-1. John Delaney and Paul Wallace won. Gerard MacElligott and Brendan Lyons drew.
65+ team drew 2-2 against the Mongolian Women. Pete Morriss and Orison Carlile won. John Gibson and Peter Lynch lost.

That sounds like a better day all round, well done. The 50+ have another winnable match tomorrow against a Finnish side.
The 65+ team meet Norway and will be hoping the opposition rest their FM top board for the first time.

macelligott

Monday: the 50+ team beat Finland 3.5 - 0.5. Paul Wallace set a fiendish trap for his opponent and won in 9 moves. I was next to win and when Gabriel Matthews opponent offered a draw, he accepted with alacrity knowing that this result would secure the win of the match. John Delaney was left to his own devices and eventually ground out a win in an otherwise fairly equal position.

The 65+ team suffered a defeat to Norway 1.5 - 2.5
Captain Jim Murray was able to defeat a 2006 player with the black pieces - while Orison Carlile drew with a 2127 opponent. Unfortunately Pete Morriss and Peter Lynch were unable to hold out. Though Peter should probably have drawn a complex ending but eventually slipped up.

Tim Harding

For the 65+, who have had several narrow defeats, the good news is that they have overtaken Mongolia Women in the standings. They are level on match points and game points, but ahead on the lesser tiebreaks.

Round 8 (of 9) on Tuesday:
The 65+ team play the weaker Finnish team; it should be winnable with a small bit of luck. Their board 4 and reserve together have scored only 1 point from 9 games.
Ireland v England 2 in the 50+, where half points on the lower boards could be crucial. It will be essential to win one of the top two boards, I think.
The English will play WGM Sheila Jackson (since she rested today) on either 3 or 4 and she is a formidable competitor.

macelligott

The Irish 50+ team drew its last two rounds against England 2 and the Russian Women. Against England, Paul Wallace had a very nice win with the black pieces https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/world-senior-team-championship-s50/8/7/2
John Delaney drew his round 8 games against a 2347. On board 4 Brendan Lyons put up a big fight but was unable to get a draw so the match ended 2-2.
In the last round we faced the strong Russian Womans team. The sudden change from a 3pm start to a 9:30am start in the last round was not conducive to fighting chess. That together with the fact that the Russian women needed only a draw to secure first place in the women's category, lead to an outbreak of peace and 4 draws were quickly agreed. The 50+ team finished 13th -(two places above their start seeding).

The 65+ team had an excellent 3.5-0.5 win against Finland in round 8 but suffered a narrow 1.5-2.5 defeat to Belgium in the final round.

ishidaogo

Final stats

Most points Paul Wallace 5/8
John Delaney 4.5/8

Pecentage Paul Wallace 62%
John Delaney 56%


Rating gain Pete Morrtss + 38
John Gibson + 20.6

Performance gain John Gibson + 154
-15?8 Pete Morris's +137

TEAM RATING
Over 65 +61
Over 50 -15,8