Polanica-Zdrój has hosted an annual international chess tournament since 1963 in honour of Akiba Rubinstein, the early-twentieth- century grandmaster born in nearby Stawiski. The 62nd edition continues that line — making it one of the oldest continuously- running named international tournaments in chess history, alongside Hastings and the Tata Steel series.
Format
Ten-player round-robin at the classical time control of 90 minutes plus 30 minutes after move 40 with a 30-second increment, run as the main GM event. Two parallel sections accompany the round-robin: a Swiss open for the wider field, and a rapid event run on designated rest days. The main GM round-robin is invited and has historically favoured Polish and Central European grandmasters, with several international invitees per edition.
Akiba Rubinstein
Akiba Rubinstein (1880–1961) was one of the strongest grandmasters of the early twentieth century — never world champion, but considered a credible challenger from 1909 through the First World War, when a planned match with Lasker was cancelled by the war. His name remains attached to an entire family of opening lines (the Rubinstein Variation of the French, the Rubinstein Trap, the Rubinstein System against the Tarrasch Defense) that demonstrate the systematic, structurally-grounded chess that defined his approach. Polanica-Zdrój sits in the Lower Silesian region near his birthplace.
Place in the Polish Calendar
The festival anchors the late-summer Polish chess calendar — a period that also includes the Polish national championship and several regional opens. The continuity of the event across six decades, including through the Communist period and the subsequent economic transformation, is unusual among European tournaments and is largely due to the active sponsorship of the Polanica-Zdrój municipality, which has funded the festival from its founding.