Radulski wins the Najdorf Festival in Warsaw
7/26/2010 – This nine-round Swiss open is dedicated to Mieczyslaw Najdorf, who was born in Warsaw on April, 15, 1910 but later lived in Buenos Aires (and changed his first name to Miguel). He died in Malaga, Spain, in 1997, still avidly interested in chess. The tournament was won by Julian Radulski of Bulgaria. We bring you an illustrated report with pictures you can help us identify.
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The last two rounds of the nine-round Swiss tournament didn't bring any changes in the leading group. The tournament was won by a sole leader, grandmaster Julian Radulski from Bulgaria. His victory was well deserved – he didn't lose a single game and won against two strong grandmasters – Zhigalko and Erdos. After defeating the grandmaster from Hungary he made three draws in the final rounds, but this was enough to ensure first place. Other grandmasters did not want to burn all their bridges behind them, and in final rounds also didn't put much effort in winning their games.
Tournament winner Julian Radulski (archive picture)
Except for a few cases all game in the last rounds finished in draws, sometime straight after the opening, so that the spectators were disappointed by the lack of fighting spirit. Second place was taken by the most fighting player – GM Aleksander Mista. Until the last round he had chances to win this tournament, but he wasn't able to beat GM Svieshnikov in the final game. He deserved that place, though many times he could have lost his games. He never gave up and eventually didn't lose a single one. Third place went to grandmaster Brodsky. He had a very good start won four games in the first five rounds, and then made draws until the end.
The best woman prize went unexpectedly to WGM Beata Kadziolka (above). She had a lot of luck though. She won one game after ten moves, when her opponent's phone rang. In the last round her opponent, GM Jakubowski, overslept and didn't show up.
Second place went to Monika Socko (above), who was playing a great tournament (incl. winning against Hammer). But she lost the last two games. Even with this terrible finish she gained on rating.
Very good results were made by two young players – Pawel Weichhold and Kacper Drozdowski (both Poland). Altogether seven players made IM norms.
The biggest disappointment were surely Zhigalko and Jon Ludvig Hammer (above). They both lost two games and suffered terrible rating losses. They were both playing much weaker than usual.
Polish supporters were counting on better play by Bartlomiej Macieja (above), but he at least didn't lose any games.
Top results
| # | Title | Playeer | Nat. | Rtng. | Pts | MB | Bch |
| 1 | GM | Radulski, Julian | BUL | 2574 | 7.0 | 43.00 | 53.50 |
| 2 | GM | Mista, Aleksander | POL | 2562 | 6.5 | 42.50 | 52.00 |
| 3 | GM | Brodsky, Michail | UKR | 2540 | 6.5 | 40.50 | 51.50 |
| 4 | GM | Dziuba, Marcin | POL | 2582 | 6.5 | 39.50 | 50.50 |
| 5 | GM | Sveshnikov, Evgeny | LAT | 2487 | 6.5 | 39.50 | 50.00 |
| 6 | GM | Malakhatko, Vadim | BEL | 2576 | 6.5 | 38.50 | 49.00 |
| 7 | GM | Erdos, Viktor | HUN | 2592 | 6.5 | 38.00 | 48.50 |
| 8 | GM | Petrov, Marijan | BUL | 2535 | 6.5 | 37.00 | 47.00 |
| 9 | GM | Macieja, Bartlomiej | POL | 2639 | 6.5 | 36.50 | 47.50 |
| 10 | GM | Olszewski, Michal | POL | 2543 | 6.5 | 34.50 | 44.00 |
| 11 | FM | Bentivegna, Francesco | ITA | 2340 | 6.0 | 38.50 | 47.00 |
| 12 | IM | Krysztofiak, Marcin | POL | 2436 | 6.0 | 38.00 | 48.00 |
| 13 | GM | Boros, Denes | HUN | 2499 | 6.0 | 36.50 | 46.50 |
| 14 | IM | Staniszewski, Piotr | POL | 2389 | 6.0 | 36.00 | 46.50 |
| 15 | IM | Weichhold, Pawel | POL | 2190 | 6.0 | 34.50 | 43.50 |
| 16 | k | Drozdowski, Kacper | POL | 2223 | 6.0 | 34.00 | 43.00 |
| 17 | m | Wieczorek, Oskar | POL | 2316 | 6.0 | 29.50 | 38.50 |
| 18 | FM | Van Assendelft, Floris | NED | 2374 | 5.5 | 39.50 | 47.50 |
| 19 | GM | Zhigalko, Sergei | BLR | 2656 | 5.5 | 37.00 | 47.50 |
| 20 | GM | Vysochin, Spartak | UKR | 2562 | 5.5 | 35.50 | 45.50 |
| 21 | WGM | Kadziolka, Beata | POL | 2305 | 5.5 | 34.00 | 43.50 |
| 22 | GM | Hammer, Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2636 | 5.5 | 33.00 | 43.00 |
| 23 | GM | Berczes, David | HUN | 2551 | 5.5 | 31.50 | 40.00 |
| 24 | GM | Socko, Monica | POL | 2477 | 5.0 | 41.50 | 51.50 |
Pictorial impressions
The official tournament site provides us with some very nice pictures, but no captions. We invited our readers to help out: and many wrote in, identifying all but the last two (very youthful) players. The most diligent reader was Piotr An Nguyen, who is 19 years old, rated 2372 and has been trying to get his IM title and to cross 2400 barrier for two years.
26th: IM Twan Burg, NED, 2449, 5.0
Sixth place: GM Vadim Malakhatko, BEL 2576, 6.5/9
GM Krzysztof Jakubowski of Poland, rated 2506
30th FM Tomek Rej, AUS, 2344, 5.0/9
WFM Kinga Zakoscielna, Poland, rated 2040
WGM Evgeniya Dolukhanova, rated 2312
Klaudia Wisniowska of Poland, rated 1999
Magdalena Kowara, Poland, rated 1833, playing in the B group
Unidentified young participant
Unidentified young participant
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