8/3/2020 – The 28-year old Polish Grandmaster Kacper Piorun is five-time World Champion in problem solving but also a very strong over-the-board player. At the end of July he won the 77th Polish Championships in Warsaw. This year, the Polish Championship was a knockout tournament and in the final Piorun won against Daniel Sadzikowski. But the match was close and was only decided in the Armageddon game. | Photos: Polish Chess Federation / Krzysztof Ćwik

3/29/2019 – There was some drama in the last round thanks to Nils Grandelius who was the only player with 7½ points to win his game. That guaranteed the Swedish number one the Silver medal in Skopje, but it was up to the board one game between Israeli Maxim Rodshtein and tournament leader Vladislav Artemiev to determine the gold. In the end the top seed held on to finish first on tiebreak with 8½. Kacper Piorun took bronze. | Photo: eicc2019.mk

3/28/2019 – With an Elo rating of 2736, Vladislav Artemiev is the top seed at the European Championships in Skopje. And after a convincing attacking victory in round eight, he drew in the ninth round, along with the other players with 6½ points, resulting in a seven-way tie on 7 points together with two other young Russians — Andrey Esipenko and Grigoriy Oparin (pictured) — plus Kacper Piorun, Maxim Rodshtein, Nils Grandelius and David Anton. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ examines the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros

3/26/2019 – Maxim Rodshtein and Kacper Piorun were the leading duo after five rounds but a draw in their head-to-head in the sixth round allowed Nils Grandelius and Andrey Esipenko (pictured arriving with Kirill Alekseenko) to catch up, so this quartet now sits atop the field of the European Championships in Skopje with 6 points. The 22 best players qualify for the World Cup. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analyses the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros

3/23/2019 – Prior to the fifth round 19 players were tied for the first place, all with 3½/4 points and all willing to fight for the title. Maxim Rodshtein (pictured) is the new frontrunner. Boris Gelfand was the only one of those 19 top players in the 50+ category. On the other end of the age spectrum are Semyon Lomasov, Benjamin Gledura and Bogdan-Daniel Deac recently seen fighting for youth titles. Many players with three points were also eager to win, promising an exciting round, though not in all games. SIEGFRIED HORNECKER presents the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

10/4/2018 – Being the sole leader at the Olympiad is not an easy task. USA was the sole leader with 15.0/16 going into the ninth round. They were the clear favourites facing the Polish team. But the inspired Poles played out of their skins and beat the US with three draws and the decisive result being Piorun beating Nakamura. In the women's section China has taken the sole lead by beating Kazakhstan 3-1. We have round 9 report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal with GM analysis by Surya Sekhar Ganguly.

9/23/2018 – It is a highly challenging discipline, with the top places generally going to the younger participants. But year after year a British mathematician, grandmaster and chess writer competes, successfully, with the strongest and brightest. This year the World Championship in problem-solving was held in a beautiful lakeside town in Macedonia, and once again 63-year-old JOHN NUNN did extremely well. In his report, he gives us some examples of the tasks that he faced. | Pictured: winners in the individual event, Kacper Piorun, Piotr Murdzia and Tomáš Peitl | Photo: Franziska Iseli

5/22/2018 – The ninth and final round of the Polish championship in Warsaw was played on Sunday. A draw was enough for Jan-Krzysztof Duda against Mateusz Bartel, as Duda's only remaining pursuer, Kacper Piorun, lost to Aleksander Mista. Duda's final score was 6½ / 9 points; Piorun finished second at 5½ / 9. The women's championship had to be decided in a tiebreak between Jolanta Zawadzka and Anna Warakomska with Zawadzka ultimately coming out on top. | Photo: Piotr Jedrzejewski, mp2018.pzszach.pl

5/16/2018 – Before the Polish Championship, there was the Polish-Hungarian friendship championship. This nine-round rapid tournament has been held since 2013, and attracts hundreds of players young and old to Katowice, Poland for a fun-filled weekend. WGM KETI TSATSALASHVILI was there and sends this photo report. | Photo: Walusza photography

5/16/2018 – In Warsaw, the Polish Championships have started with a pair of round-robin tournaments with ten participants, for men and women from May 12-21. The all-GM open tournament (which has only men) includes two players over 2700 Elo and an Elo average of 2630. After four rounds, defending champion Kacper Piorun (pictured) leads with 3½ / 4. In the Women's Championship, 2295-rated Anna Warakomska is currently in clear first. | Photo: mp2018.pzszach.pl

1/5/2018 – The XLVII Rilton Cup in Stockholm (Sweden) was down to two leaders after eight rounds setting up a dramatic final round showdown. GMs Johan Salomon and Kirill Alekseenko held a half point lead over six GMs going into Friday. And rather than make a quick draw, they played a full game, until Salomon blundered an exchange and was forced to resign on the spot, leaving Alekseenko the sole winner. Commentary by GM Harry Schüssler & FM Martin Lokander. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund