We have a lot of Senior players. I think we will have problems getting them to travel.
What ages limits?
Location Alabama. What is your location so I can compare, please.
I did one in Oklahoma for 50 and up. I didn’t expect much, and did it in conjunction with a junior invitational I had at the same time and with the same time control. Since I wasn’t going to be using most of the room I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea. We got eight players.
Alex Relyea
okay thanks
That make sense
Do a tournament search in the MSA on “Senior” and you can see how they have drawn around the country. Since you’re from Alabama, you may be interested to know that this year the GA Senior drew 29 players, besting it’s record from it’s inaugural year 2004 by one. 2005 and 2006 drew in the low 20s. The GCA runs it as a service each year, expecting to lose money on it.
Keep in mind not all events with ‘Senior’ in the event name may be for senior citizens (the word ‘senior’ has more than one meaning), and there can be a senior citizen section of an event (which is what some have suggested) without that being in the name of the event.
Looking at all the events since 2004, I can identify 79 events (larger than quads) where it appears all of the players were 50 or older.
About half of these have ‘Senior’ or ‘SR’ in the event name. Other than the US Senior Open, the largest of those was a southern California event that drew 27 players. Another 18 drew ten or more players.
(There are at least 200 quads since 2004 where all of the players were 50 or older, but it appears that very few of those were planned as ‘senior’ events.)
Yeah Senior will have to be defined.
Perhaps a two section event based on age categories would work.
Interesting point about GA. Twenty Nine is a pretty good turnout. I suspect though you could at least half that for Alabama.
As one who passed the ‘speed limit’ a few years ago, given the ‘greying’ of our core membership, senior events might be more successful than in years past.
Pennsylvania has held a senior championship for the last several years. In 2006 and 2007 it was combined with the Pennsylvania Junior Championships in Pittsburgh. This was a good way to hold such a tournament because it gave a couple of coaches and some parents/grandparents a chance to play and stay out of the kids’ hair. Last year the a couple of the kids complained that the seniors were too noisy!
The format for the tournament allows players over 50 to play. Cash and trophies are awarded to top 2 and to over 65 winners as well as class prizes. Last year I tied for 1st as a young lion ( just 53), but this year could only take a bite out of second place. The winner this year was one of my “elders”, William Hughes. But it was fun and let some of my students see the manner in which tournament chess is supposed to be played, with respect and love for the game. Some of the parents came over to watch to get pointers on how to get their kids to play with the same intensity as the old guys. They were shocked that we could play chess for a solid 4 hours at a sitting, and 3 games like that on Saturday (ugh).
More states should try this type of tournament along with their major junior events. They could even sponsor the winner to the US Senior Open.
Most of our senior (50+) players play in the Pittsburgh Chess League, a team event which has been rated by the USCF since 1960. We have 37 teams and over 380 players. Leagues are probably the best way of keeping players in the game while introducing young players to slower time controls.
Thomas Magar, Life Master