The 4th Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament Memorial of Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska kicked off at the Chess Club KSz Polonia Wrocław in Wroclaw, the largest city in western Poland.
The tournament is organized by the Polish Chess Federation, Chess Club KSz Polonia Wrocław and Lower Silesian Chess Federation from 10th to 18th December 2014 in a 10-player female round-robin format with an average Elo rating 2406.
The whole Polish Olympic female takes part in the event (GM Socko Monika 2470, WGM Zawadzka Jolanta 2419, WGM Szczepkowska-Horowska Karina 2398, WGM Bartel Marta 2366 and WGM Kulon Klaudia 2332), together with 5 foreign players (IM Mkrtchian Lilit ARM 2450, IM Ziaziulkina Nastassia BLR 2427, IM Matnadze Ana ESP 2411, IM Vega Gutierrez Sabrina ESP 2405 and WGM Videnova Iva BUL 2379).
The participants were welcomed by the Polish sports legend Renata Mauer-Różańska, two-time Olympic champion in shooting, GM Włodzimierz Schmidt, seven-time Polish champion with many trophies behind, Wojciech Zawadzki, the organizer of the tournament, while GM Wojciech Moranda represented the players with individual resume for each of them.
More about WGM Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska:
WGM Krystyna Holuj-Radzikowska (5th February 1931, – 29th November 2006) was a Polish chess Woman Grandmaster (WGM), nine-time Polish Champion for women (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1966, and 1969).
She represented Poland in five chess Olympiads (1957-1972), meanwhile winning two individual medals: gold (Emmen 1957) and bronze (Skopje 1972).
Round 1 results:
| 1 | [0,0] | 1 | KULON, Klaudia | 0 – 1 | VIDENOVA, Iva | 10 | [0,0] | 1 |
| 2 | [0,0] | 2 | MKRTCHIAN, Lilit | ½ – ½ | ZAWADZKA, Jolanta | 9 | [0,0] | 2 |
| 3 | [0,0] | 3 | VEGA GUTIERREZ, Sabrina | 1 – 0 | BARTEL, Marta | 8 | [0,0] | 3 |
| 4 | [0,0] | 4 | SOCKO, Monika | 0 – 1 | ZIAZIULKINA, Nastassia | 7 | [0,0] | 4 |
| 5 | [0,0] | 5 | MATNADZE, Ana | 0 – 1 | SZCZEPKOWSKA-HOROWSKA, Karina | 6 | [0,0] | 5 |
Round 2 pairings:
| 1 | [1,0] | 10 | VIDENOVA, Iva | – | SZCZEPKOWSKA-HOROWSKA, Karina | 6 | [1,0] | 1 |
| 2 | [1,0] | 7 | ZIAZIULKINA, Nastassia | – | MATNADZE, Ana | 5 | [0,0] | 2 |
| 3 | [0,0] | 8 | BARTEL, Marta | – | SOCKO, Monika | 4 | [0,0] | 3 |
| 4 | [0,5] | 9 | ZAWADZKA, Jolanta | – | VEGA GUTIERREZ, Sabrina | 3 | [1,0] | 4 |
| 5 | [0,0] | 1 | KULON, Klaudia | – | MKRTCHIAN, Lilit | 2 | [0,5] | 5 |
Tournament website/ More information about the participants
The organizers kindly provided souvenirs from Wroclaw, chocolates and sweets, while black and white wooden pawns, with numbers underneath, were used for the drawing of lots
The chess club “Polonia” Wroclaw has plenty of trophies, medals and photo memories
Christmas atmosphere all around in Wroclaw
Wroclaw has more than 300 dwarfs spread all over the city. There is even dwarf’s map and mobile application software for those who would like to track them
