Klub Sportowy Gwiazda Bydgoszcz wins Polish Ekstraliga

by André Schulz
10/16/2024 – The Polish Team Championship was a tight race which saw Klub Sportowy Gwiazda Bydgoszcz coming out on top. The champions scored as many team points as VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław, but outscored the runners-up by 2 board points. Oliwia Kiolbasa's 7½/9 performance was crucial for Bydgoszcz's overall victory. | Photos: Kamil Gałuszka

ChessBase 18 - Mega package ChessBase 18 - Mega package

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

More...

A hard-fought competition

The Polish Team Championship was played from 6 to 15 October and featured 10 teams that played a single round-robin. The Ekstraliga competitions are played on six boards, one of which is reserved for a female player. The tournament is also of interest from a German perspective, as several German grandmasters take part.

OTUM SA Polonia Wrocław (Breslau) seemed to have the best prospects of winning the championship. The team, with Pentala Harikrishna and Nils Grandelius on the top boards, had won the most matches on the road, only dropping a team point in round 1 against HETMAN GKS Katowice (Katowice) and in round 5 against WIEŻA POMOT PĘGÓW.

Klub Sportowy Gwiazda Bydgoszcz (Bydgoszcz), with Leon Mendonca on board one and Radosław Wojtaszek on board two, had lost their match against the half-German team from Ratibor in round three and were beaten again by Legnica in round five.

In the eighth round, however, Bydgoszcz defeated then leaders Wrocław. In the final round, Bydgoszcz managed a big win against Biały Król Wisznia Mała, while Wrocław only managed a narrow victory against Racibórz.

After nine rounds, Bydgoszcz and Wrocław were tied on team points, but Bydgoszcz scored 2 more board points, which is the first tiebreak criterion in the event.

The four German grandmasters were only able to partially confirm their rating figures with their performances. Alexander Donchenko, Niclas Hischenbeth and Rasmus Svane all scored 4½ points from nine games, but fell short of expectations due to the lower rating average of their opponents.

Matthias Blübaum scored 6 points on board one and was the second-best player behind Pentala Harikrishna according to Tournament Performance Rating (TPR).

Final standings

Team Fed. Avg. rating Team points Board points
1 Klub Sportowy Gwiazda Bydgoszcz POL 2550 14,0 35,5
2 VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław POL 2554 14,0 33,5
3 HETMAN GKS Katowice POL 2601 13,0 33,0
4 KSz Miedź Legnica POL 2491 12,0 30,0
5 Akademia Szachowa Emphie Gliwice POL 2518 11,0 30,5
6 KSz Silesia Racibórz POL 2540 10,0 30,5
7 WIEŻA POMOT PĘGÓW POL 2548 10,0 29,0
8 Klub Szachowy STILON ANART Gorzów Wlkp. POL 2413 4,0 21,5
9 Biały Król Wisznia Mała POL 2364 2,0 16,0
10 TSz Skoczek Sędziszów Małopolski POL 2227 0,0 10,5

Full technical information on chessarbiter...

All games

Links


André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors