Chess: England over-65s lead all the way to world senior team gold at Prague

The Guardian

28-02-2025

England over-65s and over-50s had contrasting experiences this week at the World Senior Team Championships in Prague. The over-65s, led by the individual world champion, John Nunn, and with a virtuoso 7/8 performance by Peter Large, led throughout and were unbeaten with 16/18 match points, seven wins and two draws. Two German teams, Lasker Germany and Saxonia, took silver and bronze.
England over-50s also led for much of the way despite a round four loss to Italy, but faltered in the final round crunch matches against USA, which they lost for the third year in a row, and Kazakhstan, where they drew.
England actually had the best game points total of all the 50+ teams, and four of their five players finished in gold or silver medal positions, but it was match points that mattered. USA won gold, Italy silver, and Kazakhstan bronze, with England fourth and ­England's second team fifth.
Contrary to normal practice, the organisers only awarded ­individual gold medals, not silver or bronze. Michael Adams and Mark ­Hebden won gold in the 50+, as did Sheila Jackson in the women's 50+ (incorporated in the open event) and Large in the 65+.
Had there been silver and bronze, Stuart Conquest and John Emms (50+), Petra Fink-Nunn and Helen Frostick (women's 50+), Nunn and Ian Snape (65+) would have achieved silver, and Paul Littlewood (65+) bronze. The English Chess Federation should consider recognising their achievements by awarding its own medals to the excluded seven.
In the 65+, Epsom's Peter Large was the outstanding England ­individual performer. The retired solicitor, who has played over 80,000 games on chess.com, hit the form of his life in Prague, where his performance rating of 2494 was the second best of the competition and close to grandmaster level.
Large plays in the vintage style of the golden 1980s age of English chess, with Grand Prix Attacks, Harry the h-pawn pushes, Queen's Indian counterattacks and tactical shots all featuring prominently. In his best game at Prague, he overwhelmed an Israeli IM.
John Nunn, England's 65+ top board, is still a high class grandmaster as well as an eminent chess author and problem solver. The King's Indian 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 has been his favourite defence for decades. When France's GM Anatoly Vaisser tried to surprise him by the sharp Four Pawns Attack 4 e4 d6 5 f4, Nunn was ready with his own offbeat response 5…0-0 6 Nf3 c5 7 dxc5 Na6!? and swept to a stylish victory where his rooks trapped the white king on the h file.
Nunn and Large were well supported by Tony Kosten, the France-based author of many opening books as well as 101 Tips to Improve Your Chess; and by the team captain, Glenn Flear, whose performance at London 1986 is still the stuff of legend. He was a last-minute replacement, got married on the tournament rest day, was the bottom seed, but won first prize ahead of the global elite headed by Boris Spassky.
Fifth board Terry Chapman also has a unique place in chess history through his narrow 1.5-2.5 defeat in his 2001 two pawn odds match against Garry Kasparov, then at the height of his powers.
For the England 50+ team and its selectors, the result in Prague was a contrasting disappointment. Statistically, they were unlucky.
Michael Adams is a top class grandmaster who won elegantly in the final round at Prague, while Stuart Conquest, Mark Hebden and John Emms were all in good form. All four finished in gold or silver medal positions with just a solitary defeat each caused by a blunder in a near-even position, yet each of those dropped points led to a lost or drawn match.
The controversial selector decision to omit the popular Keith Arkell rebounded as his replacement, Peter Wells, was out of form. However, the problems run deeper than that.
The victorious USA squad, which has now won the 50+ title three years in a row, has two major assets: they are almost all not just Americans, but also grandmasters who learnt their skills in the former USSR. This team are therefore the sole remaining guardians of the historic Soviet 20th century chess supremacy, and they are zealous in its defence.
Second, Senior chess in the US benefits substantially from Rex Sinquefield's largesse. The prize fund for the 2024 all-play-all US Seniors at St Louis was $75,000. which was more than 100 times the money for the 2024 British Over-50 Championship at Hull.
It gets worse. The winner of the 2024 US Senior, Vladimir Akopian, was an Olympic gold medallist in his prime, No 2 for Armenia behind Levon Aronian. He did not compete in Prague, but is likely to be available next year. Another active 2600+ grandmaster, Alexander Onischuk, turns 50 this year, so that the US team is likely to be stronger still in 2026.
Sign up to The Recap
The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action
after newsletter promotion
For England over-50s to compete successfully at this higher level, they most probably need the world class pair Nigel Short, who last played in the 2022 gold medal team, and Matthew Sadler, who turned 50 last year and, although semi-retired, is still active in chess as a commentator and writer.
However, there is a new negative factor. The £500,000 DCMS grant for elite chess, which was introduced in 2023 and has since encouraged England's best players of all ages, especially women and girls, is due to be axed completely at the end of next month. The long-term consequences of this decision are incalculable, but are likely to fall most heavily on the national teams and on the provision of coaching support for fast rising talents.
Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion and loser of the most famous match in chess championship history died on Thursday aged 88. He had a severe stroke in 2010, but made a good recovery.
Spassky's magnanimity in defeat against Bobby Fischer at Reykjavik 1972, where he showed himself a fine sportsman and even applauded his opponent at the end of the sixth game, made him an inspirational figure for the chess public.
Spassky was ranked among the global elite from his mid-teens, but setbacks in qualifying events, notably an epic game with Mikhail Tal in 1958, delayed his reaching the top. By the time he finally won the crown, by defeating Tigran Petrosian in 1969, Fischer's inexorable rise was already under way. When they finally met Fischer lost the first game and defaulted the second, then overwhelmed the Russian with a series of wins.
In his later years Spassky was content to keep his place among the elite and opted for a more peaceful style. He and Fischer played a return match in 1992, which the American also won. It was notable for the largest prize fund in chess history, $5m, provided by a Montenegro banker as part of an alleged Ponzi scheme.
A fuller tribute will follow later in Guardian obituaries.
3961: 1 Nf5! If 1...Nxf5 2 Re8+ Rf8 3 Qxc4+ Kh8 4 Qf7! and wins. The game ended 1 Nf5 Qd8 2 Rxe7! Resigns. If 2...Rxe7 3 Qd5+! Qxd5 4 Nxe7+ and 5 Nxd5 wins the ending a knight ahead.