
The MetLife Warsaw Najdorf Chess Festival (10. to 18. July) is the biggest tournament in Poland. It is organised by the Kazimierz Sosnkowski Foundation and the Polish Chess Federation and offers a total prizefund of 30.000 Euros. Players start in four rating groups. this year 450 players participated.

Warsaw by night
Igor Kovalenko wins Najdorf Memorial 2015
by Tomasz Mincewicz
Igor Kovalenko turned this tournament into a one-man show. He completely dominated his rivals and with seven wins and two draws he sailed to a smooth 8.0/9 victory. This led to a 2902 Elo-Performance and a win of 20 Elo-points. On the virtual Elo-list he now has a rating of 2702.

Tournament winner Igor Kovalenko
Place two went to top seed Ivan Cheparinov from Bulgaria. He played good chess (apart from round 1) and finished with 7.0/9.

GM Ivan Cheparinov
The best Polish player, Michal Krasenkow, lost against a lower-rated player in round 3 but ended the tournament on a good note. After a crucial win against Andrey Zhigalko in round 8 he drew in the last against Kovalenko and finished third.

GM Michał Krasenkow
Impressions

The playing hall

Igor Kovalenko (right, with White) and Michal Olszewski at the beginning of round 3

GM Andrey Zhigalko finished with 6.0/9

With 6.0/9 IM Nikita Meskov made a GM norm

Polish fans were certainly disappointed with the result of Polish GM Dariusz Świercz:
he scored 5.5/9 and finished 22nd.

Chess veteran GM Oleg Romanishin watching the games.

Tournament director Maria Macieja gives an interview to a local TV station.

Closing ceremony of group D

A table at the tournament displayed Najdorf's most famous game
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.e3 c6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Ne2 Nbd7 9.Ng5 Bxh2+ 10.Kh1 Ng4 11.f4 Qe8 12.g3 Qh5 13.Kg2 Bg1 14.Nxg1 Qh2+ 15.Kf3 e5 16.dxe5 Ndxe5+ 17.fxe5 Nxe5+ 18.Kf4 Ng6+ 19.Kf3 f4 20.exf4 Bg4+ 21.Kxg4 Ne5+ 22.fxe5 h5# 0–1
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Glucksberg,B | - | Najdorf,M | - | 0–1 | 1930 | A85 | Warsaw | |
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Final standings
Place |
Title |
Name |
Fed. |
FIDE |
Total |
MBch. |
1 |
GM |
Kovalenko, Igor |
LAT |
2682 |
8.0 |
40.50 |
2 |
GM |
Cheparinov, Ivan |
BUL |
2683 |
7.0 |
37.50 |
3 |
GM |
Krasenkow, Michal |
POL |
2610 |
6.5 |
40.00 |
4 |
IM |
Kanarek, Marcel |
POL |
2508 |
6.5 |
36.00 |
5 |
GM |
Tomczak, Jacek |
POL |
2579 |
6.5 |
35.00 |
6 |
GM |
Zhigalko, Andrey |
BLR |
2574 |
6.0 |
40.50 |
7 |
IM |
Meskovs, Nikita |
LAT |
2457 |
6.0 |
39.00 |
8 |
GM |
Safarli, Eltaj |
AZE |
2649 |
6.0 |
39.00 |
9 |
GM |
Piorun, Kacper |
POL |
2591 |
6.0 |
37.50 |
10 |
GM |
Markowski, Tomasz |
POL |
2566 |
6.0 |
37.50 |
11 |
GM |
Efimenko, Zahar |
UKR |
2652 |
6.0 |
35.50 |
12 |
IM |
Klekowski, Maciej |
POL |
2475 |
6.0 |
35.00 |
13 |
GM |
Bajarani, Ulvi |
AZE |
2515 |
6.0 |
33.50 |
14 |
GM |
Rozentalis, Eduardas |
LTU |
2530 |
6.0 |
32.00 |
15 |
GM |
Miśta, Aleksander |
POL |
2585 |
5.5 |
41.00 |
16 |
IM |
Warakomski, Tomasz |
POL |
2449 |
5.5 |
37.50 |
17 |
IM |
Drozdowski, Kacper |
POL |
2468 |
5.5 |
36.00 |
18 |
GM |
Neiksans, Arturs |
LAT |
2597 |
5.5 |
35.50 |
19 |
IM |
Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan |
IND |
2475 |
5.5 |
34.50 |
20 |
IM |
Sadzikowski, Daniel |
POL |
2477 |
5.5 |
34.50 |
21 |
GM |
Macieja, Bartłomiej |
POL |
2586 |
5.5 |
33.00 |
22 |
GM |
Dragun, Kamil |
POL |
2586 |
5.5 |
33.00 |
23 |
GM |
Świercz, Dariusz |
POL |
2634 |
5.5 |
32.00 |
24 |
GM |
Durarbayli, Vasif |
AZE |
2630 |
5.0 |
41.00 |
25 |
GM |
Volokitin, Andrei |
UKR |
2654 |
5.0 |
38.00 |
...83 participants

The winners: (from left to right) Ivan Cheparinov, Igor Kovalenko, Michal Krasenkow
Photos are from Tomasz Mincewicz and the official tournament site