THE seniors tournament at Mariánské Lázně had 93 players, exactly 50% more than the open.
This disparity in favour of older generations, in this case people aged 50+, is not a one-off.
My next tournament with both open and senior sections is likely to be Bad Wörishofen in March.
The ChessOrg website shows 82 entries for the open, and a further 53 in the U1900, making 135 in all, whereas the seniors (60+ for men, 50+ for women) has 149 entries.
Following that in May comes the Austrian Bodensee congress at Bregenz.
At first sight this seems to buck the trend in that there are 71 entries for the open, compared with 49 for the seniors (60+ for men, 55+ for women).
However, in this case like is not being compared with like, in that the former tournament has nine mainly afternoon rounds over nine days, while the latter has seven morning rounds over seven days.
The different schedules will have influenced entries (I know an English couple who used to play in the seniors at Bregenz, but stopped when it switched from afternoons to mornings).
Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I seem to remember opens as having more entries - usually substantially more - than senior events at the same congress.
Is this a sign of a decline in popularity of chess among younger people? Or perhaps it reflects the boom that occurred among people old enough to have experienced the Bobby Fischer phenomenon.
Querying the FIDE database shows, of standard rated active ENG players, 28% are over 60, 22% are under 18, which leaves 50% in the middle. Switching to blitz ratings only 18% are over 60 while 30% are under 18.
ReplyDeleteI suspect quite a few of the 'middle' players will be 50+
ReplyDeleteSometimes there is a kind of an booming in chess
ReplyDeleteI tought the latest one was after the Queens gambit movie from 2020
So I think there is an upgrade among youngsters
There came more and more scools gave chess lessons
Back in 1935 after Max Euwe went world champion there was a huge booming in chess players.
But in those days it became more elderly people instead of youngsters.
But now is it maybe a bit less in the ages between 25 - 45.
(maybe career or so)
Yes, I was forgetting that Queen's Gambit and covid lockdowns gave chess a boost, probably across all ages. They may have especially prompted some seniors to get back into chess.
DeleteI think there’s also a demand for senior events created by the wish to avoid playing youngsters at the strong amateur level. Golf clubs realised from day one that you will destroy your adult membership by flooding adult tournaments with youngsters, versus a modus operandi amongst many people chess really only exists to teach juniors.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain extent there is also a touch of big-fish-in-a-small-pond syndrome. But I think most seniors are happy mixing with people who have had similar life experiences.
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