The Rubinstein Memorial is an annual chess tournament held in Polanica-Zdrój, Poland in honour of the chess legend Akiba Rubinstein. Rubinstein died in 1961 and the tournament had its first edition in 1963.
The tournament built a strong reputation all the way until the 1990s (peaking in 1998, when Karpov, Gelfand and Shirov among others participated), before declining throughout the 2000s. The 60th anniversary (2024) was marked by a significantly stronger field compared to previous years, featuring top-tier players including Duda, Keymer, and Wojtaszek.[1][2][3]
The tournament usually consists of several tournaments in different rating or age groups. The main tournament is usually a closed round-robin tournament, while the other tournaments are open Swiss system tournaments.
Winners
- {| class="sortable wikitable"
! # !! Year !! Winner !! #RR
|-
| 1||1963||Nikola Padevsky (Bulgaria) || 16
|-
| 2||1964||Andrzej Filipowicz (Poland)
Bruno Parma (Yugoslavia) || 16
|-
| 3||1965||Evgeni Vasiukov (USSR)
Péter Dely (Hungary)|| 14
|-
| 4||1966||Vasily Smyslov (USSR) || 15
|-
| 5||1967||Semyon Furman (USSR) || 16
|-
| 6||1968||Vasily Smyslov (USSR) || 16
|-
| 7||1969||Laszlo Barczay (Hungary) || 16
|-
| 8||1970||Jan Smejkal (Czechoslovakia) || 16
|-
| 9||1971||Helmut Pfleger (Germany) || 16
|-
| 10||1972||Jan Smejkal (Czechoslovakia) || 16
|-
| 11||1973||Włodzimierz Schmidt (Poland) || 14
|-
| 12||1974||Vladimir Karasev (USSR) || 16
|-
| 13||1975||Yuri Averbakh (USSR) || 16
|-
| 14||1976||Gennadi Timoshchenko (USSR) || 15
|-
| 15||1977||Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia) || 18
|-
| 16||1978||Mark Tseitlin (USSR) || 15
|-
| 17||1979||Yuri Razuvayev (USSR) || 16
|-
| 18||1980||Oleg Romanishin (USSR) || 14
|-
| 19||1981||Włodzimierz Schmidt (Poland) || 14
|-
| 20||1982||Lothar Vogt (East Germany) || 15
|-
| 21||1983||Viacheslav Dydyshko (USSR) || 15
|-
| 22||1984||Gennadi Zaichik (USSR) || 16
|-
| 23||1985||Konstantin Lerner (USSR) || 16
|-
| 24||1986||Péter Lukács (Hungary) || 13
|-
| 25||1987||Uwe Bönsch (East Germany) || 13
|-
| 26||1988||Alexander Chernin (USSR) || 15
|-
| 27||1989||Igor Novikov (USSR) || 16
|-
| 28||1991||Joël Lautier (France) || 12
|-
| 29||1992||Oleg Romanishin (Ukraine) || 12
|-
| 30||1993||Gennadi Sosonko (Netherlands) || 12
|-
| 31||1994||Evgeny Mochalov (Belarus) || Open
|-
| 32||1995||Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) || 12
|-
| 33||1996||Alexander Beliavsky (Slovenia) || 12
|-
| 34||1997||Sergei Rublevsky (Russia) || 10
|-
| 35||1998||Boris Gelfand (Belarus) || 10
|-
| 36||1999||Loek van Wely (Netherlands) || 10
|-
| 37||2000||Boris Gelfand (Israel) || 10
|-
| 38||2001||Vladimir Baklan (Ukraine) || Open
|-
| 39||2002||Alexander Zubarev (Ukraine) || Open
|-
| 40||2003||David Navara (Czech Republic) || Open
|-
| 41||2005||Paweł Czarnota (Poland) || Open
|-
| 42||2006||Robert Kempiński (Poland) || 10
|-
| 43||2007||Bartosz Soćko (Poland) || 10
|-
| 44||2008||Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine) || 10
|-
| 45||2009||Wojciech Moranda (Poland) || Open
|-
| 46||2010||Kacper Piorun (Poland) || Open
|-
| 47||2011||Aleksander Hnydiuk (Poland) || 10
|-
| 49||2013||Wojciech Moranda (Poland) || 10
|-
| 50||2014||Vadim Shishkin (Ukraine) || 10
|-
| 51||2015||Tomasz Warakomski (Poland) || 10
|-
| 52||2016||Marcin Szeląg (Poland) || Open
|-
| 53||2017||Tomasz Warakomski (Poland) || Open
|-
| 54||2018||Artur Frolov (Ukraine) || Open
|-
| 55||2019||Tomasz Warakomski (Poland) || Open
|-
| 56||2020||Sergei Ovsejevitsch (Ukraine) || Open
|-
| 57||2021||Kirill Shevchenko (Ukraine)
David Navara (Czech Republic)|| 10
|-
| 58||2022||Alexander Donchenko (Germany)
Dimitrios Mastrovasilis (Greece)|| 10
|-
| 59||2023||Grzegorz Nasuta (Poland)|| 10
|-
| 60||2024||Vincent Keymer (Germany)|| 10
|-
| 61||2025||Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzbekistan)|| 10
|}
2024
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+60th Akiba Rubinstein Memorial Grandmaster tournament, 17 August – 25 August 2024, Polanica-Zdrój, Poland, Category XIX (2686.8)[4] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! H2H !! No. of wins !! SB |- |-style="background:#ccffcc;" | 1 || align="left" |Vincent Keymer (Germany) || 2719 | || ½ || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || 1 || 6 || || || |- | 2 || align=left|David Navara (Czechia) || 2674 | ½ || || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 5 || 2 || || |- | 3 || align="left" |Sam Shankland (United States) || 2669 | 1 || ½ || || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || 1 || 5 || 1½ || 2 || 22.50 |- | 4 || align="left" |Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) || 2687 | 0 || ½ || ½ || || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || 5 || 1½ || 2 || 20.00 |- | 5 || align="left" |Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) || 2733 | 1 || 0 || ½ || ½ || || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || 5 || 1 || || |- | 6 || align="left" |Alexey Sarana (Serbia) || 2717 | 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || 4½ || ½ || 1 || |- | 7 || align="left" |Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland) || 2680 | ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || || ½ || ½ || ½ || 4½ || ½ || 0 || |- | 8 || align="left" |Pentala Harikrishna (India) || 2692 | 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || || ½ || ½ || 4 |||||| |- | 9 || align="left" |Andrei Volokitin (Ukraine) || 2667 | 0 || ½ || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || || 1 || 3½ |||||| |- | 10 || align="left" |Mateusz Bartel (Poland) || 2630 | 0 || ½ || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || || 2½ |||||| |}
2025
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+61st Akiba Rubinstein Memorial Grandmaster tournament, 15 August – 24 August 2025, Polanica-Zdrój, Poland, Category XVI (2634)[5] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! H2H !! No. of wins |-bgcolor=#ccffcc | 1 || align="left" |Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzbekistan)|| 2663|| || ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| 1|| 1|| 1|| 1|| 6½|| || |- | 2 || align="left" |Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland)|| 2651|| ½|| || ½|| 1|| ½|| ½|| ½|| 1|| ½|| 1|| 6|| || |- | 3 || align="left" |Matthias Blübaum (Germany)|| 2660|| ½|| ½|| || ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| 1|| 1|| ½|| 5½|| || |- | 4 || align="left" |David Navara (Czech Republic)|| 2650|| ½|| 0|| ½|| || ½|| ½|| 1|| ½|| ½|| 1|| 5|| || |- | 5 || align="left" |Aravindh Chithambaram (India)||2723|| ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| || ½|| 0|| 1|| 1|| 0|| 4½|| ½|| 2 |- | 6 || align="left" |Igor Kovalenko (Ukraine)|| 2676|| ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| || ½|| ½|| ½|| ½|| 4½|| ½|| 0 |- | 7 || align="left" |Mateusz Bartel (Poland)|| 2576|| 0|| ½|| ½|| 0|| 1|| ½|| || ½|| ½|| ½|| 4|| || |- | 8 || align="left" |Michael Adams (England)|| 2663|| 0|| 0|| 0|| ½|| 0|| ½|| ½|| || ½|| 1|| 3|| 1½|| |- | 9 || align="left" |Paweł Teclaf (Poland)|| 2570|| 0|| ½|| 0|| ½|| 0|| ½|| ½|| ½|| || ½|| 3|| 1|| |- | 10 || align="left" |Jan Klimkowski (Poland)|| 2517|| 0|| 0|| ½|| 0|| 1|| ½|| ½|| 0|| ½|| || 3|| ½|| |}
References
- ^ https://en.chessbase.com/post/akiba-rubinstein-is-back-in-town-in-polanica-zdroj/33
- ^ https://www.chessdom.com/aleksander-sokolski-it-is-an-honor-to-continue-the-legacy-of-the-akiba-rubinstein-tournament/
- ^ https://en.chessbase.com/post/rubinstein-memorial-in-polanica-zdrj
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 60th Akiba Rubinstein Memorial Grandmasters". chess-results.com. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 61st Akiba Rubinstein Chess Festival - ALREH GM TOURNAMENT". chess-results.com. Retrieved 2025-08-25.