GM Bartosz Soćko and WFM Michalina Rudzińska are the 2023 Polish chess champions. Michalina successfully defended her title from last year, while Bartosz won his third national chess crown.
The 80th PGNiG TERMIKA Polish Championship and the 75th PGNiG TERMIKA Polish Women’s Championship took place on 11-21 April 2023, in Warsaw. Just like the two last editions, the tournaments were played in different formats.
The open event was a 16-player knockout tournament which attracted the best Polish players, except for Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Defending champion Radoslaw Wojtaszek cruised to the semifinals, where he faced last-year finalist Kasper Piorun. The opponents exchanged blows in the classical games, but Radoslaw prevailed in rapid and advanced to the final to battle for the title with Bartosz Soćko.
Bartocz’s road to the final was not as smooth, as he had to play tiebreakers in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, however, he convincingly outplayed Szymon Gumularz and punched his ticket to the final.
As many expected, the final was a close battle that came down to a tiebreaker after two draws in classical games. The opponents split a point in the first rapid encounter, but Bartosz Soćko won the second one with the black pieces and clinched the title.
In the match for third place, Szymon Gumularz whitewashed Kacper Piorun (2-0).
The women’s event, a 10-player round-robin, also saw a tight race for the title. Defending champion Michalina Rudzińska grabbed the lead early on after two starting victories with black and kept her top position throughout the tournament distance, and entered the final round on 5½/8, a half-point ahead of Julia Antolak, Alina Kashlinskaya and Alicja Sliwicka.
Rudzińska drew her last-round game with Antolak and took the title, as neither of her rivals managed to win. An astonishing achievement by Michalina, who won back-to-back titles despite being seeded 10th in 2022 and 9th in 2023.
Julia Antolak and Alina Kashlinskaya tied for second place, with the former claiming silver thanks to better tiebreaks.
