GM John Nunn gained the gold medal within the 65+ part of the World Senior Chess Championships held in Assisi, Italy. Playing in the identical group, GM Nona Gaprindashvili gained the ladies’s senior title for the eighth time. GM Zurab Sturua gained the 50+ part, the place WGM Elvira Berend was the most effective feminine participant.

The World Senior Chess Championships passed off November 15-26, 2022, in Assisi, well-known for being the birthplace of St. Francis, who based the Franciscan non secular order within the city in 1208.

Both the 50+ and the 65+ tournaments had been 11-round Swiss occasions. In every group, all contributors performed collectively and medals had been awarded to the highest-ranked gamers in addition to to the most effective feminine gamers.

In the 65+ event, the gold medals went to well-known names within the chess world: Nunn and Gaprindashvili.

 For 67-year-old Nunn, a three-time world problem-solving champion, it was the primary world title in over-the-board chess after a bronze medal within the 50+ part in 2014, the 12 months when FIDE launched the 50+ class for the open part. Apart from being a wonderful chess creator and writer, Nunn can also be a former top-10 participant and two-time winner of the celebrated Wijk aan Zee event.

In Assisi, Nunn confirmed flashes of his greatest chess from the eighties and nineties as he combined tactical slugfests with positional dominance. His third-round win was within the type of the previous masters:

Nunn had one off-day, when he misplaced rapidly to Danish GM Jens Kristiansen in spherical eight, however the English GM then completed with 2.5/3 and have become the one participant to achieve 9 factors. Kristiansen himself misplaced an instructive endgame within the last spherical:

Georgia’s Gaprindashvili, who lately settled her lawsuit with Netflix,  who was the ladies’s world champion between 1962 and 1978. As the strongest and in addition one of the crucial energetic gamers of her technology, she had already gained the world seniors ladies’s title seven occasions, and in Italy she added one other, scoring 7/11. Not dangerous for an 81-year-old!

Here’s her win from spherical seven:

2022 World Seniors 65+ | Final Standings (Top 20)

63-year-old Sturua, additionally from Georgia, will likely be a pressure to reckon with two years from now, when he is eligible for the 65+ part. He gained the 50+ group as he edged out GM Maxim Novik from Bulgaria on tiebreaks; each had completed on 8.5/11. It was Sturua’s second title after his triumph in Katerini, Greece, again in 2014.

Here’s a win from the ninth spherical, the place GM Ivan Morovic missed a tactic that may have held his place collectively:

In this group, 57-year-old Berend (née Sakhatova), a Kazakhstan-born Luxembourg participant, gained the 50+ part amongst ladies for the fourth time in a row. She scored 7.5/11 and had a greater tiebreak than WIM Sopio Tereladze from Georgia.

Here’s Berend’s win within the fifth spherical:

2022 World Seniors 50+ | Final Standings (Top 20)