Provided by MICHAEL MULFORD, Chair
40 senior state champions squared off in the 5th annual John T. Irwin Tournament of Senior State Champions. 2021 runner-up IM Doug Root and GM Enrico Sevillano shared top honors with a 5-1 score. GM’s James Tarjan and Sergey Kudrin and IM Alexander Matros shared 3rd-5th place.
The Senior Committee has always made every effort to ensure each of the 52 states has a representative, although we have never exceeded 44. As you might imagine, a few states are harder to fill than the others. In order to improve our chances in those states, US Chess sent an email to current senior members, those expired since 2019 and state chapters. This email invited seniors interested in representing their state in the Irwin to notify Peter Karagianis. Pete will maintain a list of seniors who opted in. When the deadline for state chapters to submit their nominees has passed, Pete will send an email to any senior on that list who is from an unrepresented state to see if they wish to play. As of April 1, 41 players have put their name on this list. If even one spot in the Irwin is filled from this effort, I will be delighted.
The Senior Committee also lobbied the Invitational Committee to move the deadline for state chapters to nominate their representatives from June 23 to June 1. While almost every state holds qualifying events for the other Invitationals, less than half do so for the Irwin. As a result, we always have more open slots to fill. The earlier deadline improves the chances that potential participants will be able to fit it in their schedule and also improves the chances the hotel will still have rooms.
The 2022 US Senior Open, held in the Chicago area for the second straight year, drew 50 players. GM Dmitry Gurevich repeated as champion by spoiling GM Jesse Kraai’s perfect score in the last round. GM Alex Fishbein nicked Gurevich for a draw but lost to Kraai. The 2023 event will be held in the Chicago area again July 21-23. The organizers of this run a great event. That said, I heard several seniors mention they wish it wasn’t held so close to the US Open (and the Irwin) and for the top players, for the US Senior Championship (Closed). The organizers in Chicago hold this event and the US Junior in conjunction with their chess camp, which makes sense to them. Senior chess players, however, would be better served if the US Senior Open could be held at a different time of year so all the senior events aren’t bunched together. That’s easier said then done, of course. The synergy of combining with other events makes the event more economically viable.
While we believe in the Longest Day Campaign, the preferred method is for chess players to donate directly to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://www.alz.org. Your contributions are important in fighting this disease.
In September the Executive Board unanimously passed a motion approving a US Senior Women’s Championship, intended to be a round robin similar to the US Championship, US Women’s Championship and US Senior Championship. The Senior Committee is in complete accord with the Women’s Committee in their desire to see this event come to fruition. Both committees are working diligently towards that objective.
