The team Wieza Pomot Pegow won their first-ever Polish Team Championship. The event was a single round-robin with ten teams in the highest division, the Ekstraliga. The venue was Lublin. Each match was played on six boards, one of which had to be occupied by a woman.
Pego2 played with the Ukrainian Andrei Volokitin and the Frenchman Maxime Lagarde on the two top boards, and had two Czechs in its ranks: Stepan Zilka and Vojtech Plat. The women’s board was occupied by Lela Javakishvili from Georgia. Wojciech Moranda represented the colours of the host country in the team. Maxime Lagarde and Vojtech Plat were the top performers with plus-3 scores. Javakishvili scored plus-2 on the women’s board.
I am happy to be part of the Wieźa Pomot Pęgow team, which became the Polish team champion for the first time! Congratulations to all team members! pic.twitter.com/dBHimfW7FC
— Andriy Volokitin (@AndriyVolokitin) September 26, 2023
With a rating average of 2575, Pegov was not one of the favourites to grab the title. A number of teams had a higher rating, the highest being Katowice with 2612.
In the course of the tournament, Pegow won seven of its nine matches and only suffered a narrow defeat against Wroclaw. They drew 3-3 against Krakow. With 15 match points, Pegow’s victory was clear. Wroclaw, with Pentala Harikrishna and Nils Grandelius on the top boards, came second with 13 points.
KSz Hetman Płock, with Rasmus Svane on board two behind Thai Dai Van Ngyuen, finished third in the finalstandings with 12 points. The young German player performed well with three wins and one loss.
Katowice, the rating favourites, with David Navara and Aryan Tari on the top boards, could not make the most of their rating advantage and only finished in a disappointing eighth place. Tari and Monica Socko, on the women’s board, were not in good form and finished the tournament with minus-3 and minus-2 scores, respectively.
Andrei Volokitin facing compatriot Vasyl Ivanchuk (Sz.S.O.N. Zagłębie Dąbrowa Górnicza) with black in the tournament’s final round
| Place | S.No. | Team name | Local | Match Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | WIEŻA POMOT PĘGÓW | 2575 | 15.0 | 31.5 |
| 2 | 6 | VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław | 2574 | 13.0 | 31.5 |
| 3 | 4 | KSz Hetman Płock | 2563 | 12.0 | 31.5 |
| 4 | 10 | KS Gwiazda Bydgoszcz | 2586 | 11.0 | 27.5 |
| 5 | 8 | KSz Silesia Racibórz | 2586 | 11.0 | 27.0 |
| 6 | 7 | Akademia Szachowa Gliwice | 2561 | 9.0 | 26.5 |
| 7 | 2 | KSz Miedź Legnica | 2540 | 5.0 | 24.5 |
| 8 | 3 | WASKO HETMAN GKS Katowice | 2612 | 5.0 | 24.5 |
| 9 | 5 | KSz Dwie Wieże Equity Advisors Kraków | 2538 | 5.0 | 23.0 |
| 10 | 9 | Sz.S.O.N. Zagłębie Dąbrowa Górnicza | 2537 | 4.0 | 22.5 |
