Radosław Wojtaszek (born 13 January 1987) is a Polish

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster. He is a three-time Polish champion. Wojtaszek has acted as

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have ...

's second, assisting the former world chess champion in his successful title defence match against

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Ch ...

, in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

against

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by wi ...

, in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

against

Boris Gelfand Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...

, in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

against

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

Chess career

In 2004, Wojtaszek won both the

European Youth Chess Championship The European Youth Chess Championship is organized by the European Chess Union (ECU) in groups under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 years old. The first tournament was held in 1991, and the under 8 category was introduced in 2007. Until 2002 there was als ...

s and the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s in the U18 category. In January 2005, he won the

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków (Cracow). It may refer to: * Cracovia SC Cracovia Soccer Club is a Association football, football team based in Beechboro, Western Australia, and is the footballing arm of the Cracovia Cl ...

Open with a score of 7½/9 points. He won the

Polish Chess Championship Individual Polish Chess Championship is the most important Polish chess tournament, aiming at selecting the best chess players in Poland. Based on the results of the tournament (mainly), the Polish Chess Federation selects the national and subsequ ...

for the first time in 2005. In 2006, Wojtaszek played for the Polish team at the Chess Olympiad in Turin scoring 9 points out of 11 games. In December 2008, he won the 8th Amplico AIG Life International – European Rapid Chess Championship in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. In 2009, Wojtaszek finished second in the Polish Championship, shared second place with

Michael Roiz Michael Roiz (russian: Михаил Владимирович Ройз, translit=Mikhail Vladimirovich Royz, born 12 October 1983 in Russia) is an Israeli chess Grandmaster. He learned to play chess at the age of 7. At 9, he finished 2nd in the n ...

at the first Lublin Grandmaster Tournament and won the Najdorf Memorial in Warsaw. In January 2010, Wojtaszek tied for 1st–5th with

Eduardas Rozentalis Eduardas Rozentalis (born 27 May 1963 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian chess grandmaster. He played for the Lithuanian team in every Chess Olympiad since 1992, except in 2000 and 2012. Rozentalis won the Lithuanian Chess Championship in 1981, 1983 ...

Pavel Ponkratov Pavel Ponkratov (born 15 July 1988) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010. Together with 43 other Russian chess players, Ponkratov signed an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, protesting ...

Luke McShane Luke James McShane (born 7 January 1984) is an English chess player. A chess prodigy, he was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2000, at the age of 16. McShane has become one of England's leading players and a member of the national ...

and

Igor Lysyj Igor Ilyich Lysyj (; born 1 January 1987) is a Russian chess player and writer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. Lysyj was Russian champion in 2014. Together with 43 other Russian chess players, Lysyj signed an open l ...

at the 39th Rilton Cup in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

and finished again second in the Polish Championship. He won the 5th Polonia

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

Open in July 2010. In August of the same year, he won the 4th San Juan International Tournament in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

with 6½/9. 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 György Marx (25 May 1927 – 2 December 2002) was a Hungarian physicist, astrophysicist, science historian and professor. He discovered the lepton numbers and established the law of lepton flavor conservation. Life He was the first non-Briti ...

Memorial tournament in

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, which provi ...

, Hungary. In December 2013, he took clear first with 6/7 in the 37th

Zurich Christmas Open The Zurich Christmas Open (german: Weihnachtsopen Zürich) is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Zurich, Switzerland. The tournament began in 1977 and has been held 38 consecutive times. In 2013, Polish Grandmaster Radosław Wojtasze ...

Wojtaszek,Radoslaw und Kashlinskaya,Alina 2017 Dortmund

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

as well as the world's second highest rated player,

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United St ...

. In July 2015, he placed second in the Biel Grandmaster Tournament scoring 6/10. In April 2016, he won the Polish Championship for the third time, scoring 6½/9. In July 2017, Wojtaszek won the Dortmund tournament, scoring 4½ out of 7, ahead of players like

and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He was unbeaten in that tournament, winning games against Wang Yue and

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Romanian (until 2014) and German (since 2014) chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest rated Romanian player ev ...

(both with white pieces). In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of

Shamkir Chess Gashimov Memorial is a chess supertournament played in Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014). Winners 2014 The Gashimov Memorial 2014 took place in the Haydar Aliev Centre in Shamkir City from 16 April to 30 April 2014, consisting o ...

, finishing fifth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7). In October 2018, his team AVE Novy Bor finished second at the 34th

European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with ...

held in

Porto Carras Porto Carras (Greek: Πόρτο Καρράς), known as Porto Carras Grand Resort, is one of northern Greece's largest and most famous hotels and holiday resorts. It is located on Sithonia, Chalkidiki peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. It is about 12 ...

, Greece. Wojtaszek drew against Magnus Carlsen, among others. In the same month, he also won the Chess.com

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

International tournament with a score 7/9 after a play-off match against

Arkadij Naiditsch Arkadij Naiditsch ( az, Arkadi Naydiç; born 25 October 1985) is an Azerbaijani (since 2015) chess grandmaster who previously represented Latvia (until 2005) and Germany (2005–2015). Career In 1995 he won the European Under-10 cham ...

. In 2019, he qualified for the

FIDE Grand Prix The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon. Each series consist of three to six chess tournaments, which form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship or ...

for the first time. His best result was at the Moscow tournament. In the first round he knocked out

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world ...

then

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently comment ...

in the quarterfinals to progress to the semifinals. Here he was defeated by

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

in tie-breaks, who won in the fourth rapid game, after the first three encounters finished drawn. In Hamburg and Jerusalem, he was knocked out in the first round by

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates ...

and

Dmitry Andreikin Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Андрейкин, born 5 February 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster, World Junior Chess Champion in 2010 and two-time Russian Chess Champion (2012 and 2018 ...

respectively. In 2020, Wojtaszek won the

Biel Chess Festival The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Piet ...

. 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 Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior ...

. Through February and March 2022, Wojtaszek played in the

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022,

as a replacement. In the first leg and only leg in which he played, he tied for first with

Richárd Rapport Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian-Romanian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungari ...

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.

Personal life

Wojtaszek is married to Russian-born Polish chess player

Alina Kashlinskaya Alina Anatolyevna Kashlinskaya (russian: Алина Анатольевна Кашлинская; born 28 October 1993) is a Russian-born Polish chess player. She holds the titles International Master and Woman Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded he ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 1987 births Living people Chess grandmasters Polish chess players People from Elbląg World Youth Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship