Pawel Sowinski: A Great Victory in Piešťany and the Path to the Grandmaster Title

This story sounds like a fairy tale. You are fourteen years old, have only the FM title, and are playing in one of the strongest tournaments in Slovakia. In Piešťany, there were seven grandmasters, five WGMs, nineteen international masters, and thirty FIDE masters. You are seeded as the seventeenth best player and end up winning first place. Before the tournament, achieving an IM norm might have been considered a success, but as it often happens in fairy tales, you achieve much more: a GM norm, a performance rating of 2650, and 2200 euros. So, it’s not a fairy tale; it’s just another great success for the talented Polish chess player Pawel Sowinski.

Final Standings after 9 Rounds

Perhaps you didn’t know that Pawel Sowinski also became the U14 World Champion and undoubtedly ranks among the great chess talents. Interestingly, he is currently ranked fifteenth among the best players under fifteen. His current rating is 2433. In twelfth place among the best players under fifteen is the Czech talent Vašek Finěk, with a rating of 2452. After the just-concluded tournament in Piešťany, where Pawel gained 25 points, he will surpass Vašek Finěk and make a significant leap forward.

Vašek Finěk vs. Pawel Sowinski

Both players are among the greatest chess talents of their countries. In this diagram, I wanted to show the progress curve of both players. Vašek experienced a certain degree of stagnation in recent years, which hopefully is now in the past, while Pawel, in the beginning, was miles away from the progress Vašek was achieving. Eventually, the curve intersects in August, and Pawel surpasses Vašek in rating. Yes, Vašek is already an IM, while Pawel is "just" an FM, but Pawel has his first GM norm from an open tournament, which is arguably the hardest norm to achieve.

The red curve represents Vašek’s progress, and the blue curve represents Pawel’s progress.

The Best Under 15

The competition in the chess world is indeed fierce. Almost every one of us had dreams of playing in world tournaments, becoming a grandmaster, and perhaps even fighting for the world champion title. Often, what remains of these dreams is a love for the game of chess, joy from beautiful games, and admiration for the best. Even among these world talents, only a small handful will truly make it, and we will see them in Wijk aan Zee or at the Candidates Tournament. Maybe among them is the name of a future world champion, and maybe not. It’s an achievement to be in the top of your age category, but the path to becoming a truly world-class grandmaster is still long and treacherous. Not everyone will ultimately succeed.

This article was not just about the recently concluded tournament in Piešťany, about one extraordinary success, or a comparison of two great chess talents. I wanted to convey between the lines that chess is a beautiful yet cruel game. The path to success is paved with many setbacks and falls. Who will go the furthest on this path remains to be seen. Of course, more and more great young chess players are emerging, and each year, as these boys experience stagnation, it decides their chess fate. We congratulate Pawel on his excellent success in Piešťany and wish everyone similar and even greater achievements.