Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the gold medal of the European Blitz Chess Championships on Friday in Spodek in Katowice. The silver was won by Maciej Klekowski and the bronze by Russian Anton Demchenko.
Duda, the highest-ranked Polish chess player in the world, has already stood on the podium of the European Championships played in Poland. In 2014 in Wroclaw, he won the silver medal.
Last year the tournament also took place in Katowice. It was played in an online format in two stages – a round-robin tournament and a cup system for the top 16. The championship was won by Englishman Gawain Jones, who defeated Alexei Szyrov representing Spain in the final, and the bronze medal was won by German Matthias Bluebaum.
The best of Poles Radoslaw Wojtaszek lost to German Georgie Meier in 1/8 final. Duda then had to withdraw in the elimination phase due to technical problems.
In this year’s championships in Katowice Spodek, played in the open formula, 529 competitors took part.
The Speed Chess Championship will also take place on Saturday and Sunday.