Euro Seniors Greece 2015

[Craig Pritchett]

Three Scots playing in last couple of rounds at moment (see links at CS News Box, including to live games). Good luck!

Currently leading in 65+ section is Jan Rooze (Belgium), who's very friendly with all of the Scots. My title tip!

[Alan Borwell]

Alastair White is going well with 4.5/8pts with one round to go where he will play our old rival Pushkov from Russia. Jim Webster should secure good FIDE rating with 3.5/8 after he has completed the required 9 games - well done. Douglas McKerracher has 3/8. The venue looks very nice and I am sure that all three of Scotland's representatives will be having an enjoyable time. Good luck to our very good friend Jan Rooze who is tied for first place in the over 65 group after 8 games. His final game and other top board games can be viewed live.

[Alastair White]

In the end I finished in 17th place on 4.5/9, having been seeded 23rd (out of 42). I said beforehand that if I got anywhere near half points I would consider it a result, and despite an awkward draw I achieved my target with a round to spare. I lost only two games, in the first round to second seed GM Victor Kupreichik (BLR), and in the last round to the third seed GM Nikolai Pushkov (RUS), both very experienced ex-Soviet GMs. In between I was unbeaten, taking the scalp of WGM Tamar Khmiadashvili (GEO) along the way, an managing to draw with four 2100+ players.

Jim Webster scored creditably to finish in 35th place on 3.5/9 at his first ‘Seniors’, while Douglas McKerracher will surely be disappointed to have finished on the same score in 36th. Our good friend IM Jan Rooze (BEL) played very well to win our tournament and now hopes to play in the Scottish.

The Eretria Village resort was fairly comfortable but rather isolated. But the weather was perfect—sunny and warm. A day trip to the Acropolis was the only concession to tourism, although we did take the ferry to the mainland for a change of scenery. I see the same venue is to be used for the Euro Senior Teams next year, so if anyone is considering that they might like to see the following video I created with some of my photos:

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[andyburnett]

Well played Alastair (and the other guys)! Any interesting games and stories you'd like to share for the magazine?