Grunwald Cup
Poland
September 11-18, 2005
by Stephen Hilton
I finished with four and a half points from nine games in the Grunwald Cup tournament for blind and partially sighted players. All my opponents were FIDE rated so I have qualified for a FIDE rating. The winner was Piotr Dukaczewski of Poland, with Sergey Krylov of Russia in second place and Mrs Lubo Ziltsova of the Ukraine in 3rd. I finished in 17th place having been seeded 32nd of the 33 players!
The highlight for me was a meeting in round 7 with the former World Braille Champion Vladimir Berlinsky of Russia.
Download a PGN file of the games
Here is a list of my opponents:
Zigmunt Siluk (Poland) 2048
Zdzislaw Wojciesin (Poland) 2179
Marcin Chojnoivsky (Poland) 2185
Jan Walczak (Poland) 1801
Eugeniusz Rutkowski (Poland) 1996
Roman Staruch (Poland) 2010
Vladimir Berlinsky (Russia) 2328
Bogdan Rutkowski (Poland) 1937
Marian Kowalczyk Poland 2080
I feel I have achieved a lot as a Braille Chessplayer over the summer, with this tournament and also my performance in the British Braille Championships in August. I am pleased to have achieved a FIDE rating in Poland, not the easiest place to achieve one!