Rubinstein Chess Festival 2025: Yakkuboev and Wojtaszek lead

by Stefan Liebig
8/20/2025 – Things are heating up at the Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica-Zdrój: after the former sole leader Nodirbek Yakkuboev was held to a draw and Radosław Wojtaszek (pictured) scored a win, both players now share the lead with 3 points from 4 rounds. Germany’s European Champion Matthias Blübaum also won and, together with Aravindh Chithambaram, trails the leaders by just half a point in third place. Ukraine’s Igor Kovalenko and the Czech grandmaster David Navara, both with four draws, occupy the middle of the table. | Photo: Polish Chess Federation
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Round 4

In a hard-fought game against Poland’s Paweł Teclaf, Matthias Blübaum ultimately prevailed. After Teclaf opted for the Queen’s Indian Defense, Blübaum completely dictated the play, though by the time control much of his advantage had slipped away. Then came the turning point so often seen in tense battles: on move 40, Teclaf blundered, allowing Blübaum to win a pawn. The rook endgame with opposite-colored bishops should have been decisive, but when Blübaum placed his rook in front of his a-passed pawn on move 46, the position swung back toward equality. Teclaf immediately returned the favor with a losing move, and the German safely converted the full point. 

European Champion (2022 and 2025) Matthias Blübaum | Photo: David Llada (Archive)

The second winner of round four was Radosław Wojtaszek, who caught up with the leaders. He defeated England’s Michael Adams, who—uncharacteristically—played very carelessly on move 23 and could no longer shield his king from the elegant sacrificial attack launched by the Polish grandmaster.

Wojtaszek now shares first place with Nodirbek Yakkuboev, who, with the white pieces, agreed to a lifeless draw by threefold repetition after just 20 moves against top seed Aravindh Chithambaram. The games between Jan Klimkowski and Mateusz Bartel as well as between Igor Kovalenko and David Navara also ended in draws.

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Free sample video: Invisible moves

Results

Standings after round 4

Rk. Name Pts  Tb1 
1 Yakubboev, Nodirbek 3 2
2 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 3 2
3 Aravindh, Chithambaram VR. 2,5 2
4 Bluebaum, Matthias 2,5 2
Kovalenko, Igor 2 2
5 Navara, David 2 2
7 Teclaf, Pawel 1,5 0
8 Bartel, Mateusz 1,5 0
Adams, Michael 1 0
9 Klimkowski, Jan 1 0

Games

Links

Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.