World’s Oldest Chess Tournament

In praise of … Hastings chess congress

All more than new year, ignored by the football-obsessed public, hundreds of chess players have been performing battle in the south coast resort of Hastings. Grandmasters and amateurs, octogenarians and juniors, very first-time attenders and 50th-time veterans…

All more than new year, ignored by the football-obsessed public, hundreds of chess players have been performing battle in the south coast resort of Hastings. Grandmasters and amateurs, octogenarians and juniors, very first-time attenders and 50th-time veterans have gathered to essay their queen’s gambits and Sicilian defences in a competition that will lastly end on Tuesday – chess is nothing if not slow burn.

Hastings, which types itself the world’s oldest chess tournament, started in 1895 with an occasion that brought with each other many of the world’s greatest players, such as world champion Emanuel Lasker.

It has been won by some of the greatest names in chess – José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal. Sadly, its heyday is long past planet champions and global greats no longer show up. But it still attracts grandmasters, and assists keep the guttering flame of chess burning in the UK.

There are continuous worries that the council will withdraw what meagre funding there is, but every year the tournament comes about once again, enabling a new generation to tread in the footsteps of the greatest players to have graced the game. Extended might it continue.

Source: http://www.macroinsider.com