After nine rounds of the 11 round World Senior Championships in Arco, Italy, I'm still in the running for a medal, half a point behind six players tied for second place. Favorite GM Tseshkovsky (once in the World top ten) leads alone at 7.5, having just beaten GM Suba with Black in the last round. Next he plays IM Shvedchikov, who has 7 along with IM Rukavina and GMs Dydyshko, Jansa, Vaisser, and Rajkovic. I haven't done anything special to reach 6.5, not having played any GM yet, but next round I must play Suba in a rematch from the 2008 championship (we drew our game and shared first place then). Since my last report I drew three games (one I should have lost, one I should have won) and won one. The win was not difficult but a rarity in my play in that Rybka could not find any serious mistakes by me. Since my tiebreaks are not good I probably need two wins for a medal, though 1.5 will win good money. I will do my best, but Suba is pretty strong and if I win or draw I will probably get another strong GM in the final round.
Two other Americans have plus scores. Jude Acers from New Orleans is doing quite well with 6 points, many garnered from higher rated players. Michael Schemm of Washington state has 5 out of 9, which should get him a decent FIDE rating (he has none). I recall he was runner-up to me for the World Senior slot in the 2009 US Senior, so this is no surprise.
In the women's event former World Champ Nona Gaprindashvili shares the lead at 5.5 out of 7 with WGM Khmiadashvili.
In the final blitz tournament here GM Rajkovic again won, half a point ahead of me in clear second place. Had I been able to mate him with two queens against bare king before my flag fell I would have won clear first.
Stay up to date on results on chessresults.com and see more information on the official website.