In less than 100 days the 4th World Team Championship 50+ and 65+ will take place in Radebeul near Dresden. It will be the sports event in town 2016. The organizers, ZMDI Schachfestival Dresden e.V. have been chosen to carry out by the FIDE after the successful third World Team Chess Championship 2015 in Dresden.
The World Team Championship 50+ & 65+ 2016 will start on June 26th. On July 4th will known the new World Champions. Playing venue is the Radisson Blu Hotel.
Radebeul’s mayor Bert Wendsche is very pleased that this remarkable chess event will take place in Radebeul and he welcomes all participants whole heartedly. It will be the very first World Championship held in Radebeul at all.
Radebeul and Chess
But nevertheless Radebeul is not completely new to chess matters.
Grand Master Lothar Schmid was born in Radebeul 1928. His family owns the Karl-May Press which published Karl May´s adventure novels. Lothar became a member of the local chess club and at the age of 13 he won the Dresden Chess Championship. After World War II he moved to Bamberg and became a member of West German National Team. He played at Chess Olympiads eleven times between 1950 and 1984. He was also an International Arbiter. Best known to all chess friends was his role as main arbiter in the World Championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik in 1972 . Only his diplomatic finesse made it possible that this match could be finished successfully. Lothar Schmid died 2013 in Bamberg.
The third World Team Championship 2015 took place in Dresden with 87 teams. For this year the organizers expect over 100 teams. As of today 68 teams are already enrolled. Among them are teams from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Moldova, Norway, The Netherlands etc.. Already announced are former World Champions Slovakia and Russia, But we expect strong teams from Armenia, Argentina, Belgium, England, Switzerland, Ukraine as well until the end of registration on April 26th.
In the category 50+ Germany has announced a strong team with GM Klaus Bischoff, GM Uwe Bönsch, GM Raj Tischbierek, IM Karsten Volke and IM Gernot Gauglitz. The German Emmanuel-Lasker-Gesellschaft has Artur Jussupow on board 1! He won the gold 5 times with the Soviet team at the Chess Olympiad and in 2000 he won the silver medal with the German team in Istanbul. Other members of this team are GM Alexander Graf, GM Jakob Meister GM Thomas Pähtz and Dr. Gerhard Köhler.
