Wales has two teams competing in this event, namely Wales Dyfed and Wales Gwent.

The composition of the teams is as follows:

Wales Dyfed - Iolo Jones (Capt), Pat Bennett, Rudy van Kemennade, Peter Bevan and Colin Gilbert

Wales Gwent - Richard Miles (Capt), David James, Lloyd Powell, John Thornton and John Bowers.

It is anticipated that Peter Bevan will provide daily updates during the tournament.

This note follows up our earlier note on handling Welsh entries to international seniors’ team championships and asks:

1. a)those seeking to organise club or regional sides for the 2015 event; and

b) those who are either

1. a)unconnected with those prospective teams or
2. b)would prefer in any case to play in Vienna for a national team rather than such a side

to get in touch with Howard Williams (chairmanselectors@welshchessunion.org.uk) copying in Tom Brown (internationaldirector@welshchessunion.org.uk) as soon as possible and in any case by 28 February 2015.

Background

The tournament website is at http://www.europechess.org/european-senior-team-championship-2015-in-vienna/ and contains a link to the invitation document with details of the schedule, format, deadlines, the cost of accommodation etc.  In essence, the European Chess Union have reverted to the rules of the tournaments in years up to and including 2013 (in which Welsh teams competed successfully) whereby all the male members of a team’s squad had to be over 60.  Unlike the FIDE World Seniors Team Championship to be held in April (in which Wales will not be represented as insufficient players expressed an interest in response to November’s website announcement) men over 50 but under 60 are excluded.

Briefly, the championship will be a nine-round Swiss with standard FIDE time limits and one round a day. Teams of four play in any one round but that team may be chosen from a squad of five. Teams may represent either a national federation or ‘any regional structure of a federation’ and there is no limit to the number of teams a federation may enter.  All the members of each team’s squad must be registered by FIDE with the federation which enters them and must be over 60 (men) or 50 (women) as at the end of 2015.

In common with all these seniors’ events the Vienna organisers do not pay for the players’ accommodation and also levy a registration fee. That is E40 per player for teams nominated by 31 March and E60 thereafter.  As the WCU is in no position to help with these costs (though the WCU will be willing to pay the separate entry fee of E100 per team to the Europen Chess Union) accommodation and registration costs will have to met by participants (in addition to travelling expenses including  airport transfers).

Welsh teams, captained by Iolo Jones and otherwise comprising players with an average rating of slightly more than 2000, finished about halfway in these enjoyable events in the years 2011-13 (as did the two teams who competed last year when the eligibility rules were different). 

The invitation document can be viewed here.