Today, I would like to share a game that I played a while ago, back in 2023. I was a pretty active tournament player at the time (at least, much more than I am now), and I often appeared in tournaments hosted by the Hetman Chess Club for low-rated players. In these tournaments, there was almost always an old man standing upstairs from the playing hall (which is located in the basement), selling chess books. I never really had the cash for any of them, but I overheard other players talking about that man and always addressing him with respect, and eventually I found out that this man is International Master Jan Adamski. So naturally, during the next tournament in Hetman, I decided to ask him if he would be willing to play a friendly game against me.
If you don't know who Jan Adamski is, he's basically a living legend. Born in 1943, he is a former Polish Chess Champion (1982), five-time vice-champion, six-time Polish national team player at the Chess Olympiad, among many other achievements. (Yes, I did google him lol.) Also, when facing Mikhail Tal in 1974, the former World Champion resigned against him, but in a widely covered controversy, the referees decided to award the point to Tal. Despite his age, Adamski is still very much active in the Warsaw chess community, often playing in local tournaments and always selling chess books.
So naturally, when he agreed to play a friendly game against me, I felt very honored. Of course, I knew that I was going to lose (my national rating at the time was 1200), but nevertheless I was very excited for the learning opportunity and also just for the fact that I get to play against such a legend.
Without further ado, here's how the game went:
https://lichess.org/study/xLnMxEze/kXSjXacz
Even though I played a pretty good game (at least, pretty good for my ELO at the time), one mistake was enough, and Adamski methodically exposed my weaknesses. I probably could've played for longer, but I knew there was no chance of fighting back, so I resigned on move 21. Despite the loss, I was excited jut for the fact that I got to play against him. Also, I generally think playing people much stronger and with much more experience is crucial for chess improvement.
That was my game against the former Polish champion. If you liked this post, please leave a like on it.
