Love match: Husband-wife tandem take Polish national titles in chess

June is the month of weddings and anniversaries, so it’s appropriate that we start with a romance that has found success at home and at the chessboard.

GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek last month claimed the 76th Polish national championship — no big surprise as it’s the sixth title for the Polish No. 1. But in a rare double, WGM Alina Kashlinskaya, Wojtaszek’s wife and the mother of their young son, took home her first Polish women’s title at the same event in Rseszow, Poland.

Wojtaszek cruised to his latest crown with a 7-2 result, including a finishing kick of three straight wins. Kashlinskaya had to work harder, suffering an early-round defeat and edging IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya in a rapid two-game playoff after the two women also finished at 7-2.

Critical to Kashlinskaya’s win was a tough Round 8 victory over WIM Oliwia Kiolbasa, eking out the point from what looks like the most barren of endgames. White shows exquisite skill and precision in the game’s final stages, helped by a bank of tempi that forces her opponent back at critical moments.

Kashlinskaya’s 14. Kb1 Rfd8 15. d5!? (more forceful was 15. Bd3!? g6 16. Ne4, with more play for both sides) solves the problem of the potentially weak isolated d-pawn, but the resulting trades leave White with — at most — the tiniest of initiatives in a position with equal material and matching pawn structures.

But as former world champ Magnus Carlsen has repeatedly demonstrated, not all draws are drawn. Black should be able to hold the position with best play, but the onus is repeatedly on her to find the right moves, while White can probe with zero risk. With just knights and pawns on the board, Kiolbasa’s understandable wish to simplify leads to grief on 32. Nc5 Kc7 33. Ne4 (finally an actual threat: 34. Ng5) h6 34. Ng3 g6 35. Ne4 Nd7 36. f4 Nf8 37. Nc5 Nd7 38. Kc4 (see diagram; now after 38…Nf6 39. Kd4 b6 40. Nd3 Kd6, it’s not clear White can make further progress) Nxc5?! 39. Kxc5 Kd7 40. Kd5 Ke7 41. g4 g5? (a huge concession, though White’s more advanced king also tells after 41…h5 42. gxh5 gxh5 43. Ke5 h4 44. h3 f6+ 45. Kf5 Kf7 46. Kg4 Kg6 47. f5+ Kh6 48. Kxh4) f5, and now White uses a reserve of little pawn moves to push her opponent inexorably back.

Thus: 47. Kc5 Kc7 48. a5 (now the Black king must cede space) Kd7 49. Kb6 Kc8 50. b5 axb5 51. Kxb5 Kd7 52. Kb6 Kc8 53. h3!, and again a little pawn push yields big dividends.

Kashlinskaya shows excellent judgment with 54. a6! bax6 55. Kxa6 — material is still equal and Black even has a head-start on the race to the kingside, but White’s superior pawn position there proves decisive: 57. Kb6 Ke5 58. Kc7! h5 (White had to have seen that she still wins on 58…Kf4 59. Kd7 Kg3 60. Ke6 Kxh3 61. Kxf6 Kxg4 62. Ke6 h5 63. f6 h4 64. f7 h3 65. f8=Q h2 66. Qf1) 59. gxh5 Kxf5 60. Kd6 Ke4 — unfortunately, there’s no way for Black to catch the White h-pawn (60….g4 61. hxg4+), and Black resigned before White could make her next move.

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Given his recent strong play — a U.S. junior title last year and a second-place finish in the 2023 U.S. Championship, 15-year-old New Jersey phenom GM Abhimanyu Mishra generated some high hopes to be the first American world junior champion since GM Jeffery Xiong accomplished the feat in 2017.

But the No. 1 seed in the 61st World Juniors now underway in Gandhinagar, India stumbled right out of the gate with a stunning first-round loss to Indian expert Harshit Pawar, effectively knocking him out of the running.

Give credit to Pawar, who is clearly better than his nominal 2132 rating. Black is badly outplayed at the start of this Bogo-Indian but never gives White the clear knockout punch that Mishra may have been expecting.

Black is barely hanging on after 11. Bxd2 c5 12. e6! fxe6, but now White goes astray with 13. Ne5?! (better was simply 13. Bxh7 Nc6 14. 0-0 Qd7 15. Qg6+ Kf8 16. Rfe1) Bf6 14. Bg6+? (it’s not clear what White missed, but his superior position deteriorates with shocking rapidity) Ke7! (not falling for 14…hxg6?? 15. Qxg6+ Ke7 16. Qf7+ Kd6 17. Qxb7 Nd7 18. Nf7+) 15. Bxh7 Nc6 16. Ng6+ Kd7 17. Nxh8 Nxd4! 18. Qd1 Qxh8 19. Bg6 Ba6!, preventing White from castling. Despite Black being down the exchange for a pawn, the engines already are saying that Mishra is in trouble.

Black’s king proves to be perfectly safe in the center, while White is struggling to mobilize his major pieces and find a safe haven for his own king. The game’s 22. Bd3 Bxd3 23. Qxd3 c4 exposes another headache for White: the Black pawn center is ready to mobilize and sweep down the board.

Despite the huge ratings disparity, Pawar conducts the final attacking phase with aplomb: 28. Qf3 Nd4! 29. Qb7+ Kd6 30. Kf1 (g3 Qh5 31. Bf4+ e5 32. g4 Qh7! 33. Bd2 g5! 34. Qxh7 Nf3+ 35. Kf1 Rxh7 leaves White in a paralyzing bind) Rf8 31. Qxa7 (pretty much giving up, as the queen abandons the defense of her king) Nc6! 32. Qa6 Bd4 33. g3 Qxg3 34. Be3 Rxf2+!, and the elementary combination forces the young grandmaster to concede, as 35. Bxf2 Qxf2 is mate.

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Speaking of Carlsen, he again took first prize in his homeland’s biggest tournament, winning the 12th Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger by two full points over American GM Hikaru Nakamura. Chinese world champ Ding Liren, whose onboard woes we have chronicled in recent columns, offered up more reason for concern, finishing last in the elite six-grandmaster field.

In the concurrent women’s tournament, the reigning Chinese women’s world champ, GM Ju Wenjun, was far more successful, taking the double-round robin event by three points over Ukrainian GM Anna Muzychuk.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Kashlinskaya-Kiolbasa, 76th Polish Women’s National Championship, Rzeszow, Poland, May 2024

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 c5 7. dxc5 Nc6 8. e3 O-O 9. Nf3 d4 10. O-O-O Bxc5 11. exd4 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. a3 Be6 14. Kb1 Rfd8 15. d5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Bc4 Ne7 18. Bxd5 Nxd5 19. Rd4 Qb6 20. Rhd1 Nf6 21. Qc4 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 Rd8 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Ne5 Qd1+ 25. Ka2 Qd5 26. Qxd5 Nxd5 27. Kb3 Kf8 28. Kc4 Nb6+ 29. Kb5 Ke7 30. b3 Ke6 31. Nd3 Kd6 32. Nc5 Kc7 33. Ne4 h6 34. Ng3 g6 35. Ne4 Nd7 36. f4 Nf8 37. Nc5 Nd7 38. Kc4 Nxc5 39. Kxc5 Kd7 40. Kd5 Ke7 41. g4 g5 42. f5 Kd7 43. Ke5 Ke7 44. b4 a6 45. a4 f6+ 46. Kd5 Kd7 47. Kc5 Kc7 48. a5 Kd7 49. Kb6 Kc8 50. b5 axb5 51. Kxb5 Kd7 52. Kb6 Kc8 53. h3 Kb8 54. a6 bxa6 55. Kxa6 Kc7 56. Ka7 Kd6 57. Kb6 Ke5 58. Kc7 h5 59. gxh5 Kxf5 60. Kd6 Ke4 and Black resigns.

Mishra-Pawar, 61st World Junior Championship, Gandhinagar, India, June 2024

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 b6 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 Bb7 7. Bd3 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. e5 Ne4 10. Qc2 Nxd2 11. Bxd2 c5 12. e6 fxe6 13. Ne5 Bf6 14. Bg6+ Ke7 15. Bxh7 Nc6 16. Ng6+ Kd7 17. Nxh8 Nxd4 18. Qd1 Qxh8 19. Bg6 Ba6 20. Be3 Nc6 21. Rb1 Qh4 22. Bd3 Bxd3 23. Qxd3 c4 24. Qe2 Rh8 25. h3 d4 26. Rd1 Ke7 27. Bc1 d3 28. Qf3 Nd4 29. Qb7+ Kd6 30. Kf1 Rf8 31. Qxa7 Nc6 32. Qa6 Bd4 33. g3 Qxg3 34. Be3 Rxf2+ White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.