One of the biggest chess events in Poland – the 5th Polish-Hungarian Friendship Chess Tournament took place on the weekend of 20-21 May in the International Congress Center in Katowice, Poland.
The tournament was opened and closed by the initiator of the tournament and promoter of the Polish-Hungarian friendship, and former vice-president of the City of Katowice Mr. Michał Luty. At the closing ceremony he awarded the cup to the winners together with the ECU Treasurer Mr. Martin Huba and the Vice President of Polish Chess Federation Mr. Adam Dzwonkowski.
638 players competed at the event. In the strongest OPEN group 251 players participated, including 9 grandmasters and the Olympic Vice-Champions GM Monika Soćko and WGM Jolanta Zawadzka. The top seed was GM Sergei Azarov from Belarus. In youth groups the biggest was the B group, with 107 children aged 12 or younger.
The winner of the Open event was GM Aleksander Miśta (8,5 points), the runner-up GM Bartłomiej Heberla (7,5 points) and the second runner-up was GM Sergei Azarov from Belarus (7,5 points). The best female player was WGM Jolanta Zawadzka (7,5 points), ahead of GM Monika Soćko (6,5 points) and Andżelika Dziodzio (6 points).
The organizers provided live broadcast from 40 chessboards with live commentary made by GM Marcin Tazbir and WCM Maria Leks. Broadcast was transmitted through YouTube channel KochamSzachy and chess24.com website.
5th Polish-Hungarian Friendship Chess Tournament will remain in participants memory for a long time and this is also due to the special event. On the first day of the competition an exceptional meeting of the participants in the competition with two Silver Medalists of Women Chess Olympiad in Baku and the coach of the Women National Team IM Marek Matlak was held. It was an opportunity to get to know the Polish Women Team, to ask a lot of questions and to get autographs.
The Polish-Hungarian Friendship Chess Tournament was already the fifth tournament organized jointly by the City of Katowice, City of Miskolc and Silesian Chess Federation. Every year it enjoys very high attendance. We hope that in 2018 this event will raise a similar interest among chess players, but before that, we invite you the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, which will take place on 14-17 December in Katowice Sports Hall Spodek.
Photos by Karol Bartnik