Chess Park in Polanica-Zdrój

In Polanica-Zdrój chess is more than a game on a park bench. Since 1963 the spa town has hosted the Akiba Rubinstein Memorial, a tournament that has attracted world champions, and the Spa Park has a corner dedicated to the royal game. The town calls the Chess Park the warmest part of the spa grounds: sunshine, hydrangeas, roses, fountains and an open-air game under the watchful eye of Rubinstein himself.

A park within a park

The Spa Park, laid out in 1906, covers 12.97 ha in the town centre and is divided into five parts: the Central Park, the Forest Park, Józef's Park, the Chess Park and the park around the cardiology centre. The whole area is protected and managed by the town and the Kłodzko Spa Group. More than 150 groups of tree and shrub species grow here, including the tulip tree and the katsura.

The chess section is a place for sunbathing and strolling among hydrangeas, roses and fountains. During the revitalisation of the Spa Park in 2011, life-size figures linked to the spa's history were placed here and in neighbouring sections – among them a monument to Akiba Rubinstein.

Who was Akiba Rubinstein?

Rubinstein was born in Stawiski near Łomża (sources give 1880 or 1882) and died in Antwerp in 1961. From 1907 to 1912 he was one of the strongest players in the world and is seen as a pioneer of modern positional play. In 1912 he won five major international tournaments in a single year – San Sebastián, Piešťany, Breslau (Wrocław), Warsaw and Vilnius – still regarded as a record. Yet he never played a world championship match, because he could not raise the money then demanded of a challenger.

The memorial tournament

The tournament in his memory was started by Jerzy Arłamowski, head of the Lower Silesian Chess Association, and Karol Grzejszczyk, director of the spa. For many years it was Poland's strongest round-robin event; players have included Vasily Smyslov, Anatoly Karpov and Veselin Topalov. The strongest edition was held in 2000.

Tripto tip

• Entry to the park is free, and the grounds have no permanent fence.
• Time: 20–30 minutes for the Chess Park, but combine it with the rest of the Spa Park – the pump room, the promenade hall and the fountain that shoots 12 m high and puts on water, light and sound shows on warm weekend evenings.
• Bring a chess set or simply sit on a bench in the sun – a good place to rest between spa treatments.