They are high-profile events, but from personal experience I can recommend the following overseas seniors' tournaments as being good value for money, well-run, easy to get to from the UK and in attractive surroundings:
Marienbad Chess Festival
Jan 18-25
Marienbad, now known by its Czech name of Mariánské Lázně, is a spa town in the Czech Sudetenland popular with German and Russian tourists (as well as Czechs). It will be cold and there will be snow, but the town is attractive in itself and there is easy hiking. The festival includes a nine-round seniors (50+) tournament held over eight days with mostly 4pm starts.
Bad Wörishofen Chess Festival
Mar 6-14
This Bavarian event, organised by chessorg.de, is set in an upmarket spa town owing its fame to a Roman Catholic priest, Sebastian Kneipp, who invented a form of hydrotherapy. The small town - it was a tiny village before Father Kneipp turned up - is surrounded by scores of kneippenlagen, which are a sort of metal cattle trough sunk into the ground and filled with water for
Senioren Cup, Bad Wiessee
Mar 21-29
Bad Wiessee is a spa town beside the Tegernsee, a lake in the Bavarian Alps. It has a stunningly beautiful setting with excellent hiking paths varying from the easy (around the lake) to the strenuous (the 5,131ft Fockenstein can be ascended directly from the town). The first round is at 3pm, with subsequent rounds at 10am (not to everyone's taste, I realise, but it allows for going on long walks without fear of being tired for the chess). The tournament is for those born in 1970(!) or earlier.
Summer Chess Festival, Olomouc
Dates not announced yet, but probably Aug 9-16
Olomouc is a city in the east of the Czech Republic. At one point it was the chief town of the Greater Moravian Empire, but today is better known as a university city. The festival, part of the CzechTour, is held during the summer holidays and includes a nine-round seniors (50+) tournament held over eight days with mostly 4pm starts.
No comments:
Post a Comment