Polish Championships 2024: Double victory for married couple

adosław Wojtaszek and Alina Kashlinskaya are the new Polish Champions. A rare feat by a married couple! Radosław won his sixth title and is now just one victory short of Wlodzimierz Schmidt’s record (7 titles). Alina claimed her maiden gold in this prestigious event.  In addition to the titles, the new Polish champions will receive cash prizes – 25,000 PLN (approximately USD 6,350) each.

The PGNiG TERMIKA Individual Polish Chess Championship and Dr Irena Eris Cosmetics Individual Polish Women’s Chess Championship took place from May 22 to 30 in Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland. Unlike the last three editions, the tournaments were played in the same format: a 10-player round-robin.

In the open event, Radosław Wojtaszek confirmed his status as pre-tournament favorite. The top seed turned in an excellent performance, scoring 7/9 and finishing with three straight victories.

Jacek Tomczak and Mateusz Bartel netted 5.5/9 and tied for second place, with the former claiming silver thanks to superior tiebreaks. Wojtaszek and Tomczak became the only unbeaten participants in the event. 

Final standings open:

The women’s competition was a much closer affair that came down to the wire. Alexandra Maltsevskaya led most of the tournament but stumbled in the penultimate round, allowing Alina Kashlinskaya to catch up. Both leaders won their last-round games to finish on 7/9 and share first place. The second seed, Monica Socko, finished third with 6.5 points. 

A rapid tie-breaker was played to determine the champion. After drawing the first game, Alina won the second one with the white pieces and captured the title. 

Final standings women:

Photo: Michal Walusza