It was 4 p.m. on 5 May, and the second round of the Super rapid tournament was in full swing. I usually do not leave the tournament premises while the games are going on. But this offer was special. I was invited to cover the meeting between the Minister of Finance and Economy of Poland and the greatest female chess player of all time, Judit Polgar. And when I got to know that the Minister, Andrzej Domanski, is a FIDE rated player (Elo 1477 in classical chess), I felt this was too good an offer to decline.
On the way out, we saw IM Alina Kashlinskaya and her son. Did you know that Alina is married to GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek? | Photo: ChessBase India
The meeting was made possible by Polish representative Lukasz Turlej, Secretary General of FIDE | Photo: Rafał Oleksiewicz
The Minister had not yet arrived. Judit meets Jacek Gdanski, President of the Polish Agency for Audit Oversight. Jacek is also a GM! | Photo: Rafał Oleksiewicz
The Minister of Finance arrived and, being a chess lover, was extremely happy to meet Judit | Photo: Rafał Oleksiewicz
Judit sat down with the Minister to discuss the benefits of chess and how they can take the sport to more people, thus improving the quality of life for the young generation | Photo: Rafał Oleksiewicz
After the talks ended, it was time for some action! | Photo: ChessBase India
Judit Polgar and Andrzej Domanski sat opposite each other to play a game of chess | Photo: ChessBase India
The game was super exciting. Andrzej showed that, if his work were less demanding, he would have been a much higher rated player.
The game, of course, began with the Sicilian.
White has a decent position out of the opening and breaks with b3.
In order to spice up things, Judit took on c4 with the d-pawn.
Judit's last move, 16...f5?, is a mistake. How can White punish it?
It's quite difficult to pinpoint at which moment Judit has made a mistake. But here, if the Minister had found the intermezzo 17.Bg5, Judit would have been in some trouble. As it turns out, White played 17.Nc5?, and Judit was out of the woods.
It's time to unleash some tactics. Black to play.
Judit found the very nice 20...Nxd4! 21.cxd4 Qxd4+ with the neat point that after 22.Qe3 Qxe3+ 23.Nxe3, Black has 23...Bb6, winning the game.
What I found quite impressive was the resilience and fighting skills shown by Domanski. Although he was three pawns down, it did feel he had some chances with 24.Re8+ and the queen infiltrating via h6. But it wasn't sufficient, and Judit went on to win the game.
The world's strongest Minister of Finance and Economy in chess facing the strongest female player of all time!
Would it be safe to say Andrzej Domanski is the strongest Minister of Finance in the world when it comes to chess?
After the Minister left, the two grandmasters fought it out against each other! We will not reveal what happened here. This is something that someday Judit or Jacek may want to share with the world later on. | Photo: ChessBase India
A final group photo: Sandra Ismanovski (Super Foundation), Andrzej Domański, Judit Polgar, Lukasz Turlej and Jacek Gdanski | Photo: ChessBase India
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