Play Old Man's Chess and Win
The Adult Improver's Guide to Winning a Tournament in 2026
Let’s face it. We are not spring chickens anymore. I’m pushing 45+ and need a different repertoire and training regimen than when I was 20. I also need a way to conserve energy to last 10 hours a day for a typical weekend Swiss.
In this post, I present 3 Pillars of “Old Man Chess” that helped me bring home the trophy.
1. Choose Your Openings Wisely
It makes no sense to memorize 20 moves of Najdorf theory just to get tested by a tactical whiz kid in a sharp position. You are playing his game, not yours… Similarly, be careful about entering risky pawn structures such as IQP as they require quite active play. Here’s a link to a member game analysis where White played too passively and got slowly outplayed.
Instead, we need to focus on openings that give us long-term advantage such as the center, more space, bishop pair, and a safer king.
For example, the Catalan is a great choice. No wonder Carlsen picked it up after teaming with Dubov to defeat Nepo in the famous 2021 match. Magnus is still reaping the benefits of the Catalan to this day, and convincingly outplayed Caruana in Norway Chess 2025.
In my first tournament after a long break due to the Pandemic, I decided to avoid the King’s Indian discussion with IM David Vigorito, who’s an Expert on the opening.
What did I play?
The Jobava London via the 2.Nf3 & 3.Nc3 move order:
This more or less forces Black to play 3…d5 (otherwise White would play e4 to reach a Pirc) and after 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Nb5 Na6 6.e3 0-0 7.h3! we reached this position:
Even though the game is roughly even, by forcing Black’s early …d5, I am basically playing a simple London System, where Black’s typical …d6+c5 or …d6+e5 plans no longer work. My opponent is out of book and eventually got into time pressure and lost in the endgame.
2. Trick Them into Your Structure
Sometimes, winning is about steering the game into a structure you understand better.
In Round 5, I played White against IM Shmelev. He played the Nimzo-Indian, expecting a theoretical battle.
Instead of walking into his prep, I used a tricky Nimzo move order to transpose into a structure that I love: The Botvinnik Pawn Roller.
Diagram after 5.a3!? forcing the trade:
After a few moves we reached this dream position after 9.Ne2! (preparing f3+e4):
The above setup was used in Botvinnik - Capablanca, 1938. White ended up playing for f3+e4 with a crushing pawn roller attack.
I executed Botvinnik’s strategy flawlessly and took over the center. Despite some technical snafus, I managed to convert the endgame.
3. Manage Your Battery
If you are an adult improver, your biggest weakness is decision fatigue.
Kids can sit and calculate at every move and still be fresh at the 4 hour mark. The adults… Well, we tend to hallucinate and blunder away the game.
My advice is Calculate only when necessary and use your intuition to play good, solid moves quickly.
Of course, it’s easier said than done.
Here’s an example from my last round vs experienced NM Chris Chase.
White played an enterprising pawn sacrifice in the opening vs my beloved Hyper-Accelerated Dragon. His last move was 7.Re1!? inviting me to take the pawn on c3.
Would you take it?
Black to move:
It’s the last round and I don’t have much energy left. So, naturally I decided against taking the pawn and just castled, 7…0-0! The simple idea is to meet 8.cxd4 with …d5! where Black gets a nice version of the IQP and settles in for a long squeeze.
This helped me save energy as I needed to fend off a dangerous but unsound attack in the middlegame.
In the diagram below, White has a lot of threats, but how can you stop them?
Black to move:
I played 24…Kh6! and got a winning position after 25.h4 Rxd4 (25.hxg5+ leads to a beautiful mate Qxg5! 26.Nxg5 Rd1+ 27.Kh2 Rh1#) 26.Qxd4 Bxe4 27.Qxe4 Re8 and eventually converted after 5 hours of play!
GM Recipe: The Old Man’s Formula
Winning tournaments after 40 isn’t about calculating faster than the kids. It’s about being smarter with your resources.
Choose Openings Wisely: Don’t play into their strengths.
Steer the Structure: Force positions you understand.
Manage Your Battery: Save your energy for the critical moment.
Start 2026 with a Plan!
I’ve packaged these Pillars into a ‘Tournament Starter Kit” to help you execute this strategy in your next event.
The Kit includes:
The “Old Man” Repertoire: My top 3 systems to get a playable game instantly: Catalan & Jobava London for White, Hyper-Accelerated Dragon & Nimzo-Indian for Black, Videos + PGN. You get an entire repertoire in 40 min!
The Tournament Survival Guide: A printable PDF with the “Old Man” rules to review before the game. It compiles the must-know gold nuggets from my 35+ years of tournament experience into a single page.
Plus, instant access to the Openings Vault, featuring refutations to the Grob, Stafford, Evans Gambit, and more.
Already a paid subscriber? Click here to access your Starter Kit.
New Year’s Resolution Offer:
Get the full Starter Kit and unlock the entire Openings Vault for 20% off this week only (normally $100/year).
Thanks for this. Equal parts testament to enduring passion and pragmatism. Chess does that to you.
“Old man chess” indeed. Been playing since I was 5. Never approached your peak, but also can’t see myself apart from it. Reassessing my relationship for the next phase as well. Restacking the repertoire is hard when done without your talent, but necessary and probably similar.
Few things sustain over a lifetime. For me, eternity can be whatever it is if I can go out clutching a picture of my wife, a camera, and a chess set.
Loved the letter you shard from Spassky to President Bush. It said more to me about the type of bond the game creates than anything else.
Hi Eugene, how to put the whole game from Lichess into the post?
Reagrds,
Robert