The GM Pentala Harikrishna-led VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław team is leading the ongoing 2020 Polish Team Championship – Ekstraliga at the Best Western Hotel in Krakow, Poland.
The event is among the classical tournaments currently being played in the European continent without COVID-19 protocols in place.
The 10-team, single round robin, six-board team tournament has a time format of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment on the first time control and 30 minutes plus 30 seconds per move to finish the game. Some of the world’s top grandmasters are playing in the event, although some skipped even if their names were already submitted in the final lineups probably because of talent fee issues.
The standings after Round 7: 1. VOTUM SA Polonia Wrocław; 2. Pęgów Tower; 3. Wasko HETMAN GKS Katowice; 4. KSz Stilon Gorzów; 5. KSz Miedź Legnica; 6. Silesia Racibórz Chess Club; 7. KSz Hetman Płock; 8. Two Towers Chess Club Krakow; 9. UKS 21 Podlesie; 10. LKS Wrzos Międzyborów.
On paper, Wasko HETMAN is supposed to be the strongest team having GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, David Navara and Nigel Short at the top four boards and an Elo 2639 team average. Unfortunately, only Wojtaszek showed up. The team probably cannot afford the talent fees of the others.
Harikrishna, P (2732)-Kryvoruchko, Y (2682) [C67]
Krakow (1.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h5 11.Ne2 b6 12.Re1 c5 13.Bf4 Be7 14.Nc3 Bb7 15.Nb5 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Bd8 17.e6 c6 18.Nd6+ Nxd6 19.Bxd6 Bf6 20.Be5 Ke7 21.Bxf6+ Kxf6 22.exf7 Kxf7 23.Re4 Rhe8 24.Rae1 Rxe4 25.fxe4 Rd8 26.Kg2 Rd2 27.Rc1 Rd6 28.Kf3 a5 29.Ke3 Rg6 30.Rd1 Ke7 31.a4 Rg5 32.c4 Rg6 33.Rd3 Rg1 34.Rb3 g5 35.Rxb6 Kd6 36.e5+ Kc7 37.Ra6 Re1+ 38.Kf3 Rxe5 39.Rxa5 Kd6 40.Ra7 Rf5+ 41.Kg2 g4 42.h4 Rf4 43.b3 Rf3 44.Rb7 1-0
Wojtaszek, R (2717)-Kempinski, R (2568) [E11]
Krakow (2.13) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Bb7 7.e3 0-0 8.Be2 a5 9.b3 d6 10.Bb2 Nbd7 11.0-0 Qe7 12.Qc2 c5 13.Rfd1 Rfd8 14.Nd2 Rac8 15.Qc3 h6 16.Rac1 Ba8 17.Bf1 Qf8 18.Qd3 Qe7 19.Nb1 d5 20.Nd2 cxd4 21.Qxd4 Nc5 22.Qc3 Bb7 23.Ba1 Qf8 24.Qb2 Rb8 25.cxd5 Bxd5 26.b4 axb4 27.axb4 Ncd7 28.f3 e5 29.e4 Be6 30.Bb5 Rdc8 31.Nc4 Bxc4 32.Rxc4 Rxc4 33.Bxc4 b5 34.Bf1 Qe7 35.Qd2 Rb6 36.Bc3 Qe6 37.Ra1 Qc6 38.Qd3 Ne8 39.Ra7 Nd6 40.Be1 Ra6 41.Rxa6 Qxa6 42.Qd5 Kh7 43.Bf2 f6 44.g3 Nb8 45.Bh3 Qc6 46.Bc5 Qxd5 47.exd5 Nb7 48.Ba7 1-0
Pultinevicius, P (2519)-Bartel, M (2643) [D12]
Krakow (6.14) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bd3 Bg6 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Qc2 Bd6 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bxg6 hxg6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Re8 15.Qxe8+ Qxe8 16.Rxe8+ Rxe8 17.Bd2 Nb6 18.Kf1 f6 19.Re1 Rd8 20.Ba5 Kf7 21.Nd2 Be7 22.Nb3 Rd5 23.Bxb6 axb6 24.a4 f5 25.Ke2 Bf6 26.Rd1 Rd8 27.a5 Rd5 28.axb6 Rb5 29.Rd3 Rxb6 30.Kd2 Rb5 31.Kc2 Rd5 32.Rd1 Ke7 33.f3 Kd6 34.Rd3 Rb5 35.Nc1 Ra5 36.Nb3 Ra4 37.Nc5 Rc4+ 38.Rc3 b5 39.Nb3 Kd5 40.Rxc4 bxc4 41.Nd2 Kxd4 42.f4 Kd5 43.Nf3 Ke4 44.Nd2+ Kxf4 45.Nxc4 Ke4 46.Kd2 Kd4 47.Na5 Kc5 48.b3 Be5 49.h3 Bc7 50.Nc4 Kd4 51.Kc2 g5 52.Kd2 g6 53.Kc2 Bd8 54.Kd2 Be7 55.Ke2 Bb4 56.Kd1 Kc3 57.Ne5 c5 58.Nxg6 Kxb3 59.Ne7 f4 60.Nd5 Kc4 61.Nf6 Kd3 62.Nd5 Bd2 63.Ne7 Bc3 64.Ng6 Ke3 65.Kc2 Bf6 66.Kd1 Kf2 67.h4 Kxg2 68.hxg5 Bxg5 0-1
Huschenbeth, N (2605)-Moranda, W (2605) [B48]
Krakow (6.19) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qf3 Nf6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Qg3 Qxg3 10.hxg3 Rb8 11.b3 d5 12.Bd3 Bb4 13.Bd2 h6 14.f3 Nd7 15.Na4 Bd6 16.g4 f6 17.g5 fxg5 18.Bxg5 Kf7 19.Be3 Bb7 20.f4 c5 21.e5 Be7 22.0-0 g6 23.c4 d4 24.Bd2 h5 25.Kh2 Rbf8 26.g3 Rhg8 27.Rae1 Ke8 28.Nb2 Kd8 29.Bc2 Kc8 30.a3 Bd8 31.b4 h4 32.g4 g5 33.Kh3 gxf4 34.Bxf4 cxb4 35.axb4 Bg2+ 36.Kxg2 Rxg4+ 37.Kh2 Rgxf4 38.Rxf4 Rxf4 39.Nd3 Rf3 40.Re4 Re3 41.Rxe3 dxe3 42.Bd1 Nxe5 43.Nxe5 Bc7 44.Kg2 Bxe5 45.Bg4 Bc3 46.Bxe6+ Kc7 47.Kf3 Bxb4 48.Kxe3 Bc5+ 49.Kf3 a5 50.Bf5 a4 51.Kg4 a3 52.Bb1 Kd6 53.Kxh4 Ke5 0-1
Bluebaum, M (2647)-Heberla, B (2566) [D02]
Krakow (7.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bd6 7.Bg3 0-0 8.e3 Bg4 9.Bd3 Re8 10.Bh4 c6 11.Qb3 b5 12.Qc2 h6 13.h3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nbd7 15.0-0-0 Be7 16.Kb1 Nb6 17.Rhg1 Kh8 18.Ne2 Nc4 19.Ng3 Ng8 20.Bxe7 Nxe7 21.Nh5 g6 22.Nf6 Rf8 23.f4 Qd6 24.Ng4 f5 25.Ne5 Nxe5 26.fxe5 Qe6 27.h4 Rac8 28.f4 h5 29.Rg5 Rg8 30.Rdg1 Rg7 31.Qc5 Rcg8 32.Qd6 Qc8 33.Be2 Rd8 34.Rxh5+ Kg8 35.Qc5 gxh5 36.Rxg7+ Kxg7 37.Qxe7+ Kh8 38.Qf6+ Kg8 39.Bxh5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd1! Black’s futile options are: 1…Rd7, Be8+ 2.K(x)e8#; 1…Rxe7+ 2.Kxe7#; 1…Rb6, Bc7 2.Bg5#; 1…Qxg7+ 2.Kxg7#; 1…Qg8+ 2.Kxg8#; 1…Bd7 2.Bd6#; 1…Sd7 2.Qd4#; 1…Se6/d3 2.K(x)e6#; 1…Se4 2.Sd5#; 1…Sf3 2.Qxf3#./PN
