Seniors 50+
Photographs by Brendan O’Gorman

There was  a big turnout for the two Seniors’ Championships with 44 players in the Week One 50+ and 62 in the Week Two 65+. Top seeds for the 50+ were Scottish GM Paul Motwani, CM Mark Josse and FM Chris Townsend.

GM Paul Motwani (above left) shared the lead throughout the tournament and finished with shared top place with FM Chris Duncan (middle) and Phil Crocker (right), all on 5.5 points. Here is GM Paul Motwani’s Round 3 win against Paul Dargan, where Motwani deploys a 2. g3 line against the Sicilian Defence. 

Motwani, Paul (2420) – Dargan, Paul (2056) [B20]
Chessable British Chess Championships:  Riviera Centre, Torquay, Unit (10.08.2022)

1.e4 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Ne2 Bg7 5.0–0 d6 6.d3 e6 7.Nbc3 Rb8 8.a3 b5 9.Rb1 Nge7 10.b4 cxb4 11.axb4 a5 12.Na2 d5 13.Bd2 a4 14.exd5 exd5 15.Nac3 0–0 16.Nf4 d4 17.Ne4 Bb7 18.h4 Ne5 19.h5 h6 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Ne6 Qd5 22.Nxf8 Kxf8 23.f4 Nf7 24.g4 Qd8 25.f5 gxf5 26.gxf5 Nd5 27.Nc5 Kg8 28.f6 Bxf6 29.Qh5

1–0

Here is Paul Motwani’s blog with his thoughts on the 50+ Championship, Torquay and some chess friends –
https://paulmotwani.com/2022/08/17/blog-post-130-british-senior-over-50-chess-champions-and-unforgettable-friends-%E2%99%A5%E2%98%BA%E2%99%A5/