Primesoft Polska is the main sponsor of the Grandmaster Włodzimierz Schmidt Chess Festival, which has begun at the World Trade Center in Poznań. The event, dedicated to the memory of Poland’s first grandmaster, is organized by Klub Szachowy Lech Poznań.
The festival combines high-level sporting competition with the promotion of chess among children, young people, and adults. Four tournaments are being held as part of the event:
- 3rd Grandmaster Włodzimierz Schmidt Memorial,
- 4th International Master Zbigniew Doda Memorial,
- PBS Open,
- Enea Operator zasila szachy.
You can read more about Grandmaster Włodzimierz Schmidt here: LINK
We present the profile of International Master Zbigniew Doda here: LINK
First Games in the Open Tournaments
The competition began on Saturday, July 18. Participants in the open tournaments were the first to sit down at the chessboards. The PBS Open is intended for players holding at least the second chess category and a FIDE rating. Meanwhile, the Enea Operator zasila szachy tournament was organized for children under the age of 14.
On Monday, July 20, both memorial tournaments began. Their participants were officially welcomed by Filip Kolendo, Vice President of Klub Szachowy Lech Poznań, as well as co-founder, Vice President of the Management Board, and CTO of Primesoft Polska, and Hanna Ereńska-Barlo – Poland’s first female grandmaster and a former student of Włodzimierz Schmidt.
Grandmaster Competition in Poznań
The 3rd Grandmaster Włodzimierz Schmidt Memorial gives participants the opportunity to achieve a grandmaster norm. The tournament is played in a round-robin format. This means that ten chess players will each play nine games, facing every other participant in turn. The field includes three grandmasters: Robert Kempiński (Poland), Borys Czataltbaszew (Denmark), and Eduardas Rozentalis from Lithuania.
The 4th International Master Zbigniew Doda Memorial is an open tournament played using the Swiss system. In each successive round, players are paired with opponents who have similar scores. The competition features 28 chess players, each of whom will play nine games. Three grandmasters have been invited to participate: Ibragim Chamrakutow (Spain), Artem Omelja (Ukraine), and Mikuláš Maník (Slovakia). Mikołaj Nowak, who is a member of the Primesoft Polska team, is also taking part in the competition.
The open tournaments will conclude on Sunday, July 26. The memorial competitions, however, will continue until Tuesday, July 28. That is when we will learn the winners of the 3rd Grandmaster Włodzimierz Schmidt Memorial and the 4th International Master Zbigniew Doda Memorial.
Below, we present the first days of the festival captured through the camera lens.
