Viktor Mikhalevski Wins 50+ Section at FIDE World Senior Championships

GM Victor Mikhalevski of Israel won the 50+ section at the FIDE World Senior Championships in Gallipoli, Italy, on Saturday. IM Alexander Reprintsev of Ukraine edged out five other players on tiebreaks to win the 65+ group. In the Women’s sections, Scottish GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant won the 50+ tournament while Russian WGM Galina Strutinskaia stormed through the 65+ field with a 10.5/11 score.

FIDE World Seniors 50+ | Final Standings (Top 10)

Last year, in his first appearance among the seniors, Mikhalevski finished in third place, behind GMs Alexander Shabalov (U.S.) and Michal Krasenkow (Poland). Shabalov didn’t defend his title this year, while Krasenkow did play but couldn’t fight for the medals this time. Mikhalevski was the only player to finish on 9.5/11 and remain undefeated throughout.

The eventual winner didn’t start too convincingly as he was held to a draw by 2098-rated Toni Soppela from Sweden. Mikhalevski  joined the shared lead in round six, and was in the sole lead for a few days as well.

He scored an important win in the penultimate round against the top seed in the field, GM Kiril Georgiev from Bulgaria. Mikhalevski’s 13th move was risky, but worked out well in the end.

Georgian GM Mikheil Kekelidze was in good shape as well, and tied Mikhalevski going into the final round. On the last day, Kekelidze drew as Black against Scotland’s first GM Paul Motwani, while Mikhalevski beat the American IM William Paschall to finish half a point ahead of the pack.

FIDE World Seniors 65+ | Final Standings (Top 10)

Reprintsev’s victory in the 65+ section was a big surprise as the Ukrainian IM was only the 23rd seeded player. He was in the lead by half a point after round eight, and finished with three draws. After all the calculations, it turned out that he had the best tiebreak in a group of six players.

A nice win was Reprintsev’s game in round seven. Take note, white players, because this line in the Alekhine continues to be fairly popular even though it’s actually quite unplayable for Black.

The 50+ winner’s brother, IM Alexander Mikhalevski, played in this section. He was leading early in the tournament (among his victims was Reprintsev!) but two losses toward the end left him without a medal.

FIDE World Seniors 50+ (Women) | Final Standings (Top 10)

Still rated 2403, 62-year-old GM Pia Cramling was the clear favorite for the 50+ Women’s group as the rest of the fairly small field (31 players in total) was rated in the 2200s or below. However, too many draws and an unexpected loss in round nine set her back, while Arakhamia-Grant was in excellent shape and clearly underrated at this point of her career.

She was a point ahead of Cramling by round eight, and also here, the eventual winner could finish with three draws and still remain on top. Arakhamia-Grant’s last win was a quick one:

FIDE World Seniors 65+ (Women) | Final Standings (Top 10)

The 65+ tournament was an even smaller group with just 21 players. The top seed was the legendary GM Nona Gaprindashvili. At 84 years old, the former women’s world champion is still going strong and finished in a tie for second place, third on tiebreaks.

Strutinskaya was just unstoppable here as she conceded only half a point in the fourth round, thus finishing with a fantastic 7/7. Here’s how she beat the most famous participant:

The FIDE World Senior Championships for 50+ and 65+ players (Open and Women) took place October 21-November 1, 2025, in Gallipoli, Italy. All events were 11-round Swisses. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with a 30-second increment from move one.