
The Polish First League is composed of ten teams which play a round robin tournament on six boards, including a mandatory board for women. The best two teams are promoted to the Extra League, while the three at the bottom are relegated to the Second League. This time the happy two included KSz Odrodzenie Kozuchow and ASSz Miedz Legnica, while the unfortunate three were Polonia WSB Wroclaw, ZMCh Polska YMCA Warszawa and KS AZS Politechniki Slaskiej Gliwice.
As far as individual results are concerned, Czech IM Pawel Simacek (2477) and Ukrainian GM Orest Gritsak (2548), former national champion, came first equal at the first board. However, it was a second board player, Polish GM Rafal Antoniewski (2541), who showed the best rating performance. GM Antoniewski scored 7.5/9 and it gave him a 2653 result. WGM Katarzyna Toma (2290) won the women’s board with 8/9, half a point ahead of WIM Edyta Jakubiec (2183).
GM Rafal Antoniewski showed no mercy for his board two opponents
The tournament was organized in a very competent way by Marian Sadzikowski. As a result, the players enjoyed comfortable accommodation, an equally comfortable playing hall as well as an assortment of side attractions, like a guided mountain trip and a banquet accompanied by a folk band. Besides, Poronin is one of those places where you would always like to play. Everywhere you look you see the picturesque Tatra Mountains, and the view inspires big ideas.
The wonderfully picturesque playing venue
The analysis room, ready for the players – Polish beer included
Out of the 270 games played in the tournament, we have selected two. Both of them follow the same pattern: an underdog beats a favorite, or in fact a heavy favorite. In the first one IM Piotr Staniszewski (2419) crushed GM Tomasz Markowski (2577), the player with the highest rating in the tournament and a former European Championship bronze medal winner.
IM Piotr Staniszewski never suffers from a lack in concentration
GM Tomasz Markowski had a disappointing 2400 performance
The following game includes an effort from your humble reporter. I was lucky to beat a solid IM, and I believe the game is worth showing to ChessBase readers. It starts with a properly played Benko Gambi,t and then there are entertaining tactics followed by a highly interesting endgame.
The narrow path to chess improvement
# |
Sd. |
Team | Ø-Rtng |
MPts |
Total |
B.1 |
B.2 |
1 |
3 |
KSz Odrodzenie Kozuchów | 2350 |
16.0 |
35.5 |
4.5 |
7.0 |
2 |
5 |
ASSz Miedz Legnica | 2317 |
14.0 |
34.0 |
6.0 |
5.5 |
3 |
4 |
MO TKKF Drogowiec Kraków | 2250 |
11.0 |
29.5 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
4 |
9 |
Drakon SKOK Chmielewskiego Lublin | 2350 |
10.0 |
27.0 |
6.0 |
2.0 |
5 |
6 |
MKS Polonia Warszawa | 2250 |
9.0 |
28.5 |
5.5 |
4.5 |
6 |
8 |
Ostrowskie Towarzystwo Ostrów Wlkp. | 2283 |
8.0 |
26.0 |
5.5 |
3.5 |
7 |
1 |
GKS Pniówek 74 Pawlowice | 2267 |
8.0 |
23.5 |
4.5 |
3.5 |
8 |
2 |
Polonia - WSB Wroclaw | 2283 |
6.0 |
23.5 |
4.0 |
6.0 |
9 |
10 |
ZMCh Polska YMCA Warszawa | 2217 |
4.0 |
21.5 |
2.5 |
2.0 |
10 |
7 |
KS AZS Politechniki Slaskiej Gliwice | 2167 |
4.0 |
21.0 |
1.5 |
6.0 |
LinksYou can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com. |