Three Medals for Team USA at 2024 FIDE World Senior Team Championships

The 2024 FIDE World Senior Team Championship took place from July 2 through 11 in Krakow, Poland, with 65 teams competing across the 50+ and 65+ sections. 

All in all, Team USA took home the gold in the 50+ section, with Team USA Women earning the silver medal for women's teams in the 50+ and the bronze in the 65+ section. 

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Team USA does it again! (Photo courtesy Mark Livshitz/FIDE)

In the 50+ section, the 2023 champions returned with four of last year's five gold medalists (with GM Melikset Khachiyan stepping in for GM Gregory Kaidanov). Could they repeat the magic? 

Things got off to a great start, with Team USA going 3/3 in the first third of the event. But after a 3½ – ½ win against Brazil in round one, back-to-back wins 2½ – 1½ (against Canada and Team USA Too, respectively) hinted at how hard each remaining match would be. But players took turns "stepping up," with three boards ending in a draw but the fourth one proving decisive, as was the case in round three:

The solid style of the American players got the better of them in the fourth round, however, as three games again ended in a draw but GM Alexander Shabalov lost his game and gave Italy the match victory as a result. Indeed, Shabalov probably had the most winning chances in the early phases of the game, but missing a key defensive resource allowed his opponent to turn the tides.

From there, the Americans had another tough matchup against England 1 in the fifth round, again delivering three draws and one compelling victory, this time from Khachiyan

Also in the fifth round, Italy was upset by Iceland, meaning that the Americans were very much still in contention. This may have motivated a few of the players, as Team USA delivered a pair of 3 – 1 victories over England 2 and the very same Iceland team before defeating Israel 4 – 0 in the penultimate round. Ehlvest's part of the sweep was particularly ferocious:

Another 2½ – 1½ win in the last round over Slovakia sealed the deal, and Team USA brought home the gold once again! All five players finished with individual "plus scores," from Yermolinsky's 1½/2 score as a reserve to Novikov's impressive 7/9 score. In other words, Novikov played every game and won over half of them while losing none of them. 

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Team USA Women finished second out of six women's teams in the 50+ section (Photo courtesy Mark Livshitz/FIDE)

Rather than offer separate tournaments for women's teams, the six women's teams in the 50+ section (and the three in the 65+ section) competed in the same sections as their open counterparts, with separate medals. 

In the 50+ section, Team USA Women earned a silver medal with a 4½/9 score, a half-point behind Estonia Women (who, it's worth noting, was the only Estonian team in either tournament).  

After a dominant 4 – 0 performance in the opening round against Scotland, Team USA Women had a tough pairing against England 1 in round two. While they lost the match to a quartet of grandmasters, the games were far from one-sided:

From there, a 3 – 1 win against Hungary Women put Team USA Women back on track for a medal. WIM Beatriz Marinello's win was emblematic of the sort of endgame grinds that defined much of this event:

A critical moment occurred in the sixth round against the Polish Amateurs team. With a loss on board one, WFMs Olga Sagalchik and Ivona Jezierska won their games with the white pieces to deliver a 2½ – 1½ victory against the home team. 

After a loss in round seven to Brazil, the team held a draw against Wales thanks to WFM Natalia Tsodikova's handling of a tense struggle on board four. 

From there, a last-round victory over Ireland put Team USA Women on an even score, waiting to see how the other matches shook out. In the end, Estonia Women deliver a 2½ – 1½ upset over Germany to clinch the gold, while England Women managed only a draw to finish a half-point behind the Americans. 

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In the 65+ section, GM John Nunn's England 1 repeated as champions with an undefeated 8/9 score. Latvia Women took the gold for women's teams, finishing with 4/9 ahead of Poland Women (2/9) and Team USA Women (1/8, not counting a first-round bye). Below are the three victories from Team USA Women in this section, including WIM Shernaz Kennedy's match-clinching victory against Ireland 2. 

Berkeley Chess School founder Elizabeth Shaughnessy was also honored as the oldest player in attendance. Shaughnessy, who turns 87 next week, managed two draws in four games in this event, including a sharp Benoni that could have gone either way:

In addition to the three official teams representing US Chess, the 50+ section also featured the aforementioned Team USA Too and Team USA 5 Brothers. The former had a strong showing, with a score of 5½/9, and featured familiar names such as IM Leonid Sokolin and IM Mark Ginsburg. While the five brothers only sent four brothers, they did finish with a commendable even score. All games from the 50+ section can be seen here, and the 65+ section here. All results can be found here.