The 28th World Senior Chess Championship, which is being held from November 17th until November 29th 2018, is currently in full swing. The championship is divided into 4 categories: Open 50+, Open 65+, Women 50+ and Women 65+. 330 participants come from 57 different countries and all continents. Among these players are 20 Grandmasters and 10 women Grandmasters.
The tournament in category Open 50+ is extremely tied. After 9 rounds GM Karen Movsziszian from Armenia and GM Bagaturov Giorgi from Georgia are in the lead. Both of them managed to score 7 and half points. 3rd place is currently being claimed by Russian IM Kalegin Evgenij with 7 points. If there will be no big surprises, someone among those three players will become the winner.
We have a very similar situation in the category Open 65+. We have two leaders: GM Jansa Vlastimil from Czech Republic and GM Baslashov Yuri from Russia. Both of them scored amazing 8 points. With 7 points another Russian GM Rashkovski is following them.
Among Women things are not that complicated. In category Women 50+ WGM Elvira Berend is in the clear lead with 7 and half points. She scored 1 point more than the second and third positioned players WGM Gabuzova Tatiana and WGM Stutinskaia Gallina - both from Russia.
In the oldest category among women – Women 65+ we have a new leader. The legendary Nona Gaprindashvili from Georgia finally took over the lead from now second WGM Kozlovskaya Valentina from Russia. 3rd is WIM Tsifanskaya Ludmila from Israel.