Miguel Najdorf Memorial
Friday, 15 July 2011 16:33
The International Chess Festival dedicated to the memory of Miguel Najdorf is being played from 14th to 22nd July in Warsaw, Poland. 98 players compete in the Tournament A, which is valid for FIDE title norms, 134 are in the Tournament B, and 50 in Tournament C for players born on 2001 or younger.
Top rated players:
GM Macieja Bartłomiej POL 2612
GM Markowski Tomasz POL 2611
GM Kempinski Robert POL 2600
GM Babula Vlastimil CZE 2572
GM Brodsky Michail UKR 2563
GM Świercz Dariusz POL 2553
GM Vysochin Spartak UKR 2552
GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2548
GM Olszewski Michał POL 2541
GM Czarnota Paweł POL 2541
GM Romanishin Oleg M UKR 2526
IM Piorun Kacper POL 2514
GM Jakubowski Krzysztof POL 2510
GM Starostits Ilmars LAT 2500
GM Malisauskas Vidmantas LTU 2477
IM Warakomski Tomasz POL 2473
GM Simonian Hrair ARM 2461
Miguel (Mieczysław) Najdorf was born in Warsaw on April, 15, 1910. He revealed his great chess talent as early as at the age of 10, when he achieved his maiden tournament successes. His first notable results at the Polish and international chess arena date back to the 30s. He was second (1931) and first (1934) in Warsaw Championships and then secong (1935) and third (1937) in Polish national Championships.
As one of Poland’s leading players, he represented his native country at Chess Olympiads three times, gaining team medals on all three occasions (bronze in 1935 and 1937, silver in 1939) and an individual gold medal in 1939. Additionally, he won an individual gold and team silver medal at the so-called unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1936.
The outbreak of World War II caught Najdorf in Buenos Aires, at the Chess Olympiad, most successful for him. Unable to return home, he decided to stay in Argentine and continue his chess career there. He won four more team medals (silver in 1950, 1952, 1954, bronze in 1962) and three individual medals (gold in 1950 and 1952, silver in 1962) at Chess Olympiads. He won Agrentinian Championships 8 times (1949, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1975).
In the 40s and 50ts Najdorf belonged to the close group of world’s best players, qualifying for the Candidates’ tournament of the World Championship on two occasions.
In 1950 he was one of the 27 top players awarded the newly introduced Grandmaster title by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Is he Polish or Argentinean?
= Did he play white or black? –
Born in the Russian Empire in 1910, when Poland regained independece became Polish citizen, played for Poland in chess olympiads till 1939 (beginning of II World War, when Poland again lost independece). He played the Olympiad in Sept. 1939 in Argentina and chose to stay there. Since 1950 he played for Argentina but is said to still have kept his Polish (prewar) passport.
To make matters more complicated, he was born Mendel Najdorf (he was Jewish too).