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Shabalov, Knaak, Klinova, Burchardt Winners At World Senior Championships
The 2024 World Seniors in Porto Santo, Portugal. Photo: Portuguese Chess Federation/FIDE.

Shabalov, Knaak, Klinova, Burchardt Winners At World Senior Championships

PeterDoggers
| 7 | Chess Event Coverage

Four winners were crowned on Thursday at the FIDE World Seniors Championships in Porto Santo, Portugal. GM Alexander Shabalov (U.S.) won the Open 50+ section, GM Rainer Knaak (Germany) came first in the Open 65+ section, IM Masha Klinova (Israel) topped the Women's 50+, and WIM Brigitte Burchardt (Germany) won the Women's 65+.

The world championship for senior players tends to be held in lovely resorts with good weather and good food, and this year wasn't any different. Old friends came together in the four-star Hotel Vila Baleira in Porto Santo, a Portuguese island 43 kilometres (27 miles) northeast of Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Europe and Africa.

11 rounds were played between 17 and 28 November, with only one rest day on the 23rd. With such a tough schedule it was probably a good thing that no rule against draw offers existed in this tournament as some participants might have decided against embarking on the trip otherwise!

Open 50+

The 50+ section (for which, to his horror, this author is eligible in a year from now) was won by Shabalov, who edged out GM Michal Krasenkow of Poland on tiebreak after both finished on 8.5/11. They shared the €3,000 and €2,500 top prizes. Israel's GM Victor Mikhalevski took bronze and earned €2,000.

Final Standings 50+

Rk. SNo Fed Title Name Rating Points TB1 TB2 TB3
1 8 GM SHABALOV, Alexander 2447 8.5 0.5 71 76
2 3 GM KRASENKOW, Michal 2503 8.5 0.5 70 75.5
3 5 GM MIKHALEVSKI, Victor 2488 8 0 71.5 77
4 7 GM CHATALBASHEV, Boris 2476 7.5 1 71.5 77
5 1 GM GEORGIEV, Kiril 2553 7.5 0 73 79
6 14 GM MAKSIMENKO, Andrei 2403 7 0 70.5 75
7 4 GM ROZENTALIS, Eduardas 2489 7 0 69 74
8 15 GM KEKELIDZE, Mikheil 2353 7 0 67.5 72
9 6 GM OVECHKIN, Roman 2483 7 0 65.5 70.5
10 12 GM GLEK, Igor 2417 7 0 64.5 70

Full final standings.

Shabalov (57) had no mercy in the final round against his compatriot GM Greg Kaidanov (65), whom he outplayed with the black pieces. It was a must-win, as Krasenkow was the sole leader going into that round but couldn't win his final game.

Alexander Shabalov World Senior Champion
Alexander Shabalov, the 2022 U.S. Senior Champion and now the World Senior 50+ Champion. Photo: Portuguese Chess Federation/FIDE.

Open 65+

The 65+ section saw a clear winner as Knaak was the only player to reach an 8.5/11 score. He won €3,000 while Victor's brother IM Alexander Mikhalevski (Israel) was among the finishers in shared second place alongside GM Lubomir Ftacnik (Slovakia) and IM Christian Maier (Germany). They shared prizes two-four valued at €2,500, €2000, and €1,500, among them.

Final Standings 65+

Rk. SNo Fed Name Rating Points TB1 TB2 TB3
1 2 GM KNAAK, Rainer 2458 8.5 0 70.5 75.5
2 4 IM MIKHALEVSKI, Alexander 2399 8 0 69.5 75
3 3 GM FTACNIK, Ľubomír 2444 8 0 66.5 71.5
4 16 IM MAIER, Christian 2234 8 0 62.5 66.5
5 23 FM SANTOS, António P 2200 7.5 0 65.5 69.5
6 7 GM FERNANDEZ GARCIA, José Luis 2365 7.5 0 63.5 67.5
7 17 FM HUGENTOBLER, Patrick 2216 7.5 0 63 67.5
8 30 IM TAYLOR, Timothy 2144 7.5 0 61 64.5
9 12 GM ZAPATA, Alonso 2280 7 0 70 75
10 1 GM STURUA, Zurab 2502 7 0 69 74.5

Full final standings.

Like Shabalov, Knaak (71) remained undefeated with a plus-six score. One of his wins was against Ftacnik (67), like Knaak a renowned opening theoretician back in the day who didn't shy away from playing a Benoni. Meeting 15...f5 with 16.f4! and 17. e4! was an excellent approach from Knaak, who played a model game for the white pieces in this opening.

Rainer Knaak World Senior Champion
Rainer Knaak, the new 65+ world champion. Photo: Portuguese Chess Federation/FIDE.

Women 50+ & 65+

A similar tie as in the 50+ Open happened in the same age group among the women, with Klinova having a slightly better tiebreak than IM Silvia Collas (née Aleksieva) of France. Bronze went to Spain's WGM Tatiana Grabuzova. The highest finisher in the 65+ age group was Burchardt, ahead of the legendary GM Nona Gaprindashvili (silver) and WGM Tatiana Bogumil (bronze).

Final Standings Women 50+ & 65+

Rk. SNo Fed Title Name Cat Rating Points TB1 TB2 TB3
1 2 IM KLINOVA, Masha S50 2229 8.5 0.5 67 72
2 5 IM COLLAS, Silvia S50 2180 8.5 0.5 64.5 69.5
3 6 WGM GRABUZOVA, Tatyana S50 2157 8 0 67 72.5
4 3 WGM CALZETTA RUIZ, Mónica S50 2217 7 1 69 74
5 20 WFM BALIUNIENE, Margarita S50 1930 7 0 58 63
6 16 WIM TUREBAYEVA, Alfiya S50 1986 6.5 0 66.5 70
7 11 WIM KRASENKOWA, Elena S50 2075 6.5 0 66 70.5
8 10 WGM MAKROPOULOU, Marina S50 2095 6.5 0 64.5 68
9 4 WIM TERELADZE, Sopio S50 2185 6 0 70.5 76.5
10 8 WIM BURCHARDT, Brigitte S65 2101 6 0 68.5 73.5
11 17 WFM BIRKHOLZ, Olga S50 1975 6 0 66.5 70
12 1 GM GAPRINDASHVILI, Nona S65 2243 6 0 63.5 68.5
13 24 BULANOVA, Irina S50 1817 6 0 63.5 67
14 12 WFM FOLKOVA, Martina S50 2065 6 0 59 62
15 9 WGM BOGUMIL, Tatiana S65 2096 6 0 57 62

Full final standings.

The years are finally starting to count for the absolute legend Gaprindashvili. Now 83, the only GM in the field suffered three losses to finish in 12th place. Against the eventual tournament winner in the 50 category Klinova (56), she tried a Hippopotamus Defense and got quite a playable position, then was lost briefly, missed a remarkable equalizer, and then lost after all.

Nona Gaprindashvili 2024
Nona Gaprindashvili, still an active player at 83. Photo: Portuguese Chess Federation/FIDE.

How to replay

The games can be found on our dedicated events pages: Open 50+ | Open 65+ | Women 50+ & 65+


The 2024 World Seniors was an 11-round Swiss tournament in four categories: 50+, 65+, 50+ Women, and 65+ Women, the latter two playing in a single group. The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with a 30-second increment per move.
The prize fund was €42,500.

PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

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