Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, another classical over the board tournament was successfully conducted by organizers and sponsors of the recently-concluded Poland national chess championship.
The event dubbed the LOTTO Individual Polish Championship 2020 was played on July 20 to 28 at the Warsaw Banking and Finance Center in Poland.
It was a 16-player knockout competition won by that country’s number 9 player, GM Kacper Piorun. Aside from the 29-year-old Piorun, the other players were GMs Michal Krasenkow, Grzegorz Gajewski, Bartosz Socko, Mateusz Bartel, Jacek Tomczak, Bartlomiej Heberla, Marcin Dziuba, Michal Olszewski, Marcin Krzyzanowski, Daniel Sadzikowski, Grzegorz Nasuta and Zbigniew Pakleza, and IMs Igor Janik, Szymon Gumularz and Pawel Teclaf. Poland’s top two players – GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek – did not participate.
Piorun defeated the 26-year-old Sadzikowski, 4-3, in the final while Gajewski took the bronze by beating Heberla.
The other rating favorites – Bartel, Tomczak, Krasenkow and Dziuba – were eliminated early on.
Piorun, K (2601)-Sadzikowski, D (2507) [A45]
Warsaw (4.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Nd2 Be7 5.h3 0-0 6.Ngf3 c5 7.Be2 Ba6 8.0-0 Bxe2 9.Qxe2 cxd4 10.exd4 Nc6 11.c3 d5 12.Ne1 Bd6 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Nd3 Nd7 15.Rae1 Rfe8 16.g4 b5 17.Nf3 b4 18.Rc1 Rec8 19.Kg2 a5 20.Nfe5 Ndxe5 21.dxe5 Qe7 22.f4 bxc3 23.bxc3 d4 24.Qe4 Qd8 25.cxd4 Nxd4 26.Nc5 Nb5 27.Rfd1 Qb6 28.Qb7 Qxb7+ 29.Nxb7 Nc3 30.Nd6 Nxd1 31.Nxc8 Ne3+ 32.Kf3 Nd5 33.Nd6 Kf8 34.Rb1 f6 35.exf6 gxf6 36.Rb7 Kg8 37.f5 exf5 38.Nxf5 Re8 39.Rg7+ Kh8 40.Rd7 Nb4 41.a4 Nc6 42.Rd6 Ne5+ 43.Kg3 Rf8 44.Kf4 Ng6+ 45.Ke4 Re8+ 46.Kd4 Rf8 47.Ra6 Nf4 48.h4 h5 49.gxh5 Nxh5 50.Rxa5 Ng7 51.Nxg7 Kxg7 52.Rb5 f5 53.Ke3 Re8+ 54.Kf3 Kg6 1-0
Sadzikowski, D (2507)-Piorun, K (2601) [C22]
Warsaw (4.6) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qc4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0-0 7.0-0-0 Re8 8.f3 d6 9.a3 Ba5 10.g4 Be6 11.Qe2 d5 12.g5 Nd7 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Qg2 Be6 15.Nge2 Bf5 16.Ng3 Bg6 17.h4 Nd4 18.Nce4 Bxd2+ 19.Rxd2 c5 20.h5 Bxe4 21.Nxe4 Rxe4 22.fxe4 Ne5 23.Kb1 Qe7 24.g6 fxg6 25.hxg6 h6 26.c3 Ndf3 27.Rd5 Rf8 28.Be2 Ng5 29.Rf1 Nxg6 30.Rxf8+ Nxf8 31.Bc4 Kh8 32.e5 Ng6 33.Qd2 Nxe5 34.Rd8+ Kh7 35.Bg8+ Kg6 36.Rd6+ Kf5 37.Qc2+ Kg4 38.Qg2+ Kf4 39.Rd1 Nef3 40.Bd5 Qe3 41.Bxf3 Nxf3 42.Qxg7 Ke4 43.Qh7+ Ke5 44.Qe7+ Kf4 45.Qf7+ Kg3 46.Qg6+ Kf2 47.Ka1 Ke2 48.Rh1 Nd2 49.Qg2+ Qf2 50.Qxf2+ Kxf2 51.Rxh6 Ke3 52.Rh7 Nb3+ 53.Ka2 Na5 54.b4 Nc4 55.Rxb7 Kd3 56.bxc5 1-0
Piorun, K (2601)-Sadzikowski, D (2507) [A45]
Warsaw (4.7) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.h3 0-0 6.Bd3 c5 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c3 Nxf4 9.exf4 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nc6 11.h4 f5 12.Nc3 Nb4 13.Bc4 d5 14.Bb5 Bd7 15.a3 Bxb5 16.Nxb5 Na6 17.Qxe6+ Kh8 18.Kf1 Rf6 19.Qe2 Nc7 20.Rc1 Nxb5 21.Qxb5 Bd6 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.fxe5 Rg6 24.f3 Rc8 25.Rc3 Rxc3 26.bxc3 h5 27.Kf2 Qe7 28.Qb4 Qd8 29.f4 Rc6 30.Rh3 Rc4 31.Qb5 Rc7 32.Kg1 Qe7 33.Qxd5 Rc8 34.Qb3 b5 35.d5 Qc5+ 36.Kf1 a5 37.Rd3 b4 38.axb4 Qb5 39.Ke2 Rc4 40.d6 a4 41.Qc2 Qc6 42.Kd1 Rxf4 43.Qe2 Qc4 44.d7 Qb3+ 45.Ke1 Re4 46.d8Q+ Kh7 47.Re3 Qb1+ 48.Qdd1 1-0
Heberla, B (2572)-Gajewski, G (2618) [D39]
Warsaw (4.2) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.e5 Qd8 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Ne4 0-0 12.Qe2 Be7 13.Rfd1 Qa5 14.Ng3 Rd8 15.Qe4 Nd7 16.Nh5 Nf8 17.Qg4 g6 18.Bd3 Bd7 19.Nf6+ Bxf6 20.exf6 Bc6 21.Nxd4 Qe5 22.Nxc6 bxc6 23.Qe2 Qxf6 24.Be4 Qe5 25.Qc2 Rxd1+ 26.Rxd1 Rb8 27.b3 c5 28.Bf3 Rd8 29.Rc1 Rd6 30.g3 Nd7 31.Be2 Rd4 32.Bf1 Qd5 33.Bg2 Qd6 34.Qc3 e5 35.Bh3 Rd1+ 36.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 37.Kg2 Qd5+ 38.Kg1 Nf6 39.Bg2 Qd1+ 40.Bf1 Qd4 41.Qf3 Kg7 42.Bc4 Qe4 43.Qc3 Qb1+ 44.Kg2 Qf5 45.Bd3 Qd7 46.Kg1 Qd4 47.Qc2 e4 48.Be2 Nd5 49.Bc4 Nb4 50.Qe2 Nd3 51.Kg2 h5 52.Qd2 Ne5 53.Qc1 Ng4 54.Qf4 Qf6 55.h3 Qxf4 56.gxf4 Nf6 57.Kf1 h4 58.Ke2 Nh5 59.Ke3 f5 60.Bd5 Kf6 61.f3 exf3 62.Bxf3 Ng7 63.Bd5 Ne6 64.Bg2 g5 65.fxg5+ Nxg5 66.Kd3 f4 67.Kc4 f3 68.Bf1 Ne4 69.Kd5 Ng3 70.Bc4 f2 71.Kxc5 Ke5 72.b4 Ke4 73.Bd5+ Ke3 74.Bg2 Ke2 75.Kd4 Nf1 76.b5 Ne3 77.Be4 Ke1 78.Bd3 Nc2+ 79.Kc3 Na3 80.Kb4 Kd2 81.Bf1 Nc2+ 82.Kb3 Ne3 83.b6 axb6 84.Bb5 Ke1 85.Kc3 Nf5 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.O-O! Black’s futile options are 1…Bd7 2.Rxf7#; 1…Bxb5 2.c8=S#; 1…fxg6 2.g8=S#; 1…f5 2.gxf6 e.p.#; 1…bxc1=S 2.Bf6#; 1…bxa1=Q/B 2.Qxa3#./PN