Awonder Liang Wins Rubinstein Chess Festival 2026 GM Round-Robin

Awonder Liang won the Rubinstein Chess Festival 2026 GM round-robin in Polanica-Zdroj, Poland, with 5.5/9 after a final-round win over Szymon Gumularz.

American GM Awonder Liang has won the grandmaster round-robin at the Rubinstein Chess Festival 2026 in Polanica-Zdroj, Poland. Liang finished with 5.5 points from 9 games, half a point ahead of four players.

The festival is named after Akiba Rubinstein, one of the greatest players of the early twentieth century, who was famous for his deep understanding of endgames. The top group was a strong 10-player round-robin, with every player meeting every other once at a classical time control.

The tournament was very close. Going into the last round, several players could still win. Liang made sure of first place by beating Polish GM Szymon Gumularz with White in the Caro-Kann Defense. The game lasted 60 moves and ended in a won endgame, a fitting result at an event named after an endgame master.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Jan Malek, Haik Martirosyan and Vladimir Fedoseev all finished on 5 points. Fedoseev won his final game against Sam Shankland, and Malek lost his to Jakub Seemann, which helped Liang finish alone in first.

India's GM Pentala Harikrishna also played in the event. He drew his final game against Wojtaszek and finished on 4 points in a very strong field.

The scores were very tight from top to bottom, which shows how evenly matched the players were. In round-robins like this, every point matters and one good result can decide the title.

Liang's tournament has a lesson about endgames. Many games between strong players reach an endgame, and the player with better endgame technique often gets the result. Studying basic endgames, such as king and pawn endings and rook endings, may not seem as exciting as tactics, but it wins many points. Rubinstein himself would surely agree.

Congratulations to Awonder Liang on his victory in Polanica-Zdroj.