Radosław Wojtaszek

Radosław Wojtaszek (born 13 January 1987) is a Polish chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Polish champion.

Radosław Wojtaszek
Wojtaszek at the Polish Chess Championship 2022
CountryPoland
Born (1987-01-13) 13 January 1987
Elbląg, Poland
TitleGrandmaster (2005)
FIDE rating2668 (October 2023)
Peak rating2750 (January 2017)
RankingNo. 69 (October 2023)
Peak rankingNo. 15 (December 2014)

Wojtaszek has acted as Viswanathan Anand's second, assisting the former world chess champion in his successful title defence match against Vladimir Kramnik,[1] in 2010 against Veselin Topalov,[2] in 2012 against Boris Gelfand,[3] in 2013[4] and in 2014[5] against Magnus Carlsen.

Chess career

In 2004, Wojtaszek won both the European Youth Chess Championships and the World Youth Chess Championships in the U18 category.[6] In January 2005, he won the Cracovia Open with a score of 7½/9 points.[7][8] He won the Polish Chess Championship for the first time in 2005.[9]

In 2006, Wojtaszek played for the Polish team at the Chess Olympiad in Turin scoring 9 points out of 11 games.[10] In December 2008, he won the 8th Amplico AIG Life International – European Rapid Chess Championship in Warsaw.[11][12]

In 2009, Wojtaszek finished second in the Polish Championship, shared second place with Michael Roiz at the first Lublin Grandmaster Tournament and won the Najdorf Memorial in Warsaw.

In January 2010, Wojtaszek tied for 1st–5th with Eduardas Rozentalis, Pavel Ponkratov, Luke McShane and Igor Lysyj at the 39th Rilton Cup in Stockholm[13] and finished again second in the Polish Championship. He won the 5th Polonia Wrocław Open in July 2010.[14] In August of the same year, he won the 4th San Juan International Tournament in Pamplona with 6½/9.[15][16]

At the Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Wojtaszek played on top board for Poland scoring 6/9. In June 2011, he won the 9th György Marx Memorial tournament in Paks, Hungary.[17] In December 2013, he took clear first with 6/7 in the 37th Zurich Christmas Open.[18]

Wojtaszek and his wife Alina Kashlinskaya in 2017

In 2014, he won for the second time the Polish Championship.

In January 2015, Wojtaszek took part in Tata Steel Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee, finishing ninth out of 14 players. He scored 5½/13 and was the only player to have defeated World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen as well as the world's second highest rated player, Fabiano Caruana.[19] In July 2015, he placed second in the Biel Grandmaster Tournament scoring 6/10.[20]

In April 2016, he won the Polish Championship for the third time, scoring 6½/9.[21]

In July 2017, Wojtaszek won the Dortmund tournament, scoring 4½ out of 7, ahead of players like Vladimir Kramnik and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He was unbeaten in that tournament, winning games against Wang Yue and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (both with white pieces).[22]

In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, finishing fifth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7).[23]

In October 2018, his team AVE Novy Bor finished second at the 34th European Chess Club Cup held in Porto Carras, Greece.[24] Wojtaszek drew against Magnus Carlsen, among others.[25] In the same month, he also won the Chess.com Isle of Man International tournament with a score 7/9 after a play-off match against Arkadij Naiditsch.[26]

In 2019, he qualified for the FIDE Grand Prix for the first time. His best result was at the Moscow tournament. In the first round he knocked out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov then Peter Svidler in the quarterfinals to progress to the semifinals. Here he was defeated by Ian Nepomniachtchi in tie-breaks, who won in the fourth rapid game, after the first three encounters finished drawn.[27] In Hamburg and Jerusalem, he was knocked out in the first round by Alexander Grischuk and Dmitry Andreikin respectively.[28][29]

In 2020, Wojtaszek won the Biel Chess Festival. The tournament format consisted of 28 games in various time controls (7 classical, 7 rapid and 14 blitz) competing against seven other highly ranked grandmasters. The final standings had him on 37 points, half a point ahead of second place Pentala Harikrishna.[30]

Through February and March 2022, Wojtaszek played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 as a replacement. In the first leg and only leg in which he played, he tied for first with Richárd Rapport in Pool B with a 3.5/6 result in the classical format, and then going on to lose 0.5/2 in rapid tiebreakers. He finished the tournament with four points.

In 2023, he won silver medal in the Polish Chess Championship.[31]

Personal life

Wojtaszek is married to Russian-born Polish chess player Alina Kashlinskaya.[32]

References
  1. "World Championship Picture Gallery of the final day". ChessBase. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  2. "WCh G12: Anand beats Topalov, retains world title". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  3. Crowther, Mark (12 May 2012). "Gelfand surprises Anand with a Gruenfeld and draws comfortably in World Championship Game 1". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. "Carlsen Didn't Have Seconds in India". chess-news.ru. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  5. Sagar Shah (8 November 2014). "WCh Sochi: personalities, players and seconds". ChessBase. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  6. "World Youth Chess Championships 2004". greekchess.com. 14 November 2004. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  7. Cracovia Open 2004 Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Highlights of Cracovia 2004". ChessBase. 9 January 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  9. ″Schüler gewinnt polnische Meisterschaft″ (in German). ChessBase. 29 May 2005.
  10. Wojciech Bartelski. "Men's Chess Olympiads :: Radosław Wojtaszek". OlimpBase. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  11. Bartel, Mateusz (22 December 2008). "Radoslaw Wojtaszek Superior at the European Rapid Championship". Chessdom. WordPress. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  12. "VIII Międzynarodowy Turniej Szachowy Amplico AIG Life – Tabela turniejowa". archiwum.poloniachess.pl. 21 December 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  13. Crowther, Mark (11 January 2010). "Rilton Cup 2009-10". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  14. Crowther, Mark (28 June 2010). "Polonia Wroclaw Chess Festival". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  15. Mark Crowther (9 August 2010). "IV Torneo Internacional A.D.San Juan". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  16. "IV Torneo Internacional A.D.San Juan". chess-results.com. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  17. "Wojtaszek wins György Marx Memorial with 2900 performance". ChessBase. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  18. "Wojtaszek is first at Zurich Open". ChessBase. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  19. "Standings of Tata Steel Masters 2015". tatasteelchess.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  20. Alejandro Ramirez (30 July 2015). "Biel Final: MVL wins again!". ChessBase. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  21. "Soćko and Wojtaszek are 2016 Chess Champions of Poland". Chessdom. 8 April 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  22. Crowther, Mark (23 July 2017). "Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2017". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  23. "Results: Cross Table". Shamkir Chess. 28 April 2018.
  24. Crowther, Mark (12 October 2018). "34th European Club Cup 2018". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  25. McGourty, Colin (15 October 2018). "Euro Clubs 2-3: Team Magnus impress". chess24.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  26. "Spouses win 2018 Chess.com Isle of Man". Chessdom. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  27. Pereira, Antonio (26 May 2019). "Moscow GP: Nepomniachtchi reaches the final". Chessbase.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  28. "FIDE Grand Prix Hamburg: Rapid & blitz drama on Day 3". www.fide.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  29. "Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi still in the hunt". www.fide.com. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  30. "Grandmaster Triathlon". Biel International Chess Festival. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  31. Mistrzostwa Polski Mężczyzn w Szachach 2023
  32. "Another Chess Family Will Be Born Today in Moscow". Chess-news.ru. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
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