Under the patronage of the Capital City, the Budućnost CEDIS Chess Club, in cooperation with the Chess Federation of Montenegro, is organizing the 5th international open rapid chess tournament, the "Radojica Dabetić" Memorial, which will be held in the Multimedia Hall of the University Sports Center in Podgorica on Sunday, December 15th.
The tournament is played in nine rounds according to the Swiss system, with a game time of 10 minutes per player for the entire game, with an additional five seconds for each move played. The prize fund is 2.500 euros, divided into 16 regular and seven special prizes. The opening ceremony will be held at 10 am in the game hall, after which a welcome cocktail will be held for the tournament participants and guests.
The previous four tournaments were among the largest and strongest competitions of this type ever held in Montenegro. Last year's Memorial was attended by 107 players from seven countries, including five grandmasters, four international masters and 12 FIDE masters, and the applications so far promise another chess festival in Podgorica.
The cup won last year will be defended by ten-time champion of Montenegro, grandmaster Nikola Đukić, who will also be the first favorite in terms of rating. His main competitors are expected to be his club colleague from Buducnost, international master Blažo Kalezić, who shared first place last year, and the winner of the 2nd Memorial, grandmaster from Serbia Danilo Milanović. Numerous other high-class players have also registered, so we can undoubtedly expect exciting and high-quality battles on 64 black and white fields.
Radojica Dabetić (1954-2019) was considered one of the most talented Montenegrin chess players in his youth, and he won the title of Youth Champion of Montenegro in 1972. He won the Senior Championship of Montenegro twice in a row - in 1982 and 1983. He became a candidate master in 1974, and the title of FIDE master was recognized in 1987. An excellent theoretician and player of a universal style, he recorded victories against Zdenko Kožul, Branko Damljanović and many other renowned chess players. A reliable team player, he achieved some of his best results playing for ŠK Budućnost.
He almost retired from active playing at an early age and devoted himself to coaching. It is impossible to count all the medals his students won at the cadet and youth championships of Montenegro, and many of them also won medals at the cadet and youth championships of Yugoslavia. His coaching work is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Nikola Đukić and Aleksandra Milović, the top scorers of the Montenegrin men's and women's national teams for years, were his students. He was the coach of the Yugoslav women's national team under 18, which won the silver medal at the 2002 European Championship, and the first coach of the women's national team in independent Montenegro. The World Chess Federation awarded him the title of FIDE coach in 2017.
During the five decades he spent at ŠK Budućnost, he was involved in all of its greatest successes. He was a member of the team that won the Yugoslav championship in 1998, and as captain he participated in winning four Montenegrin championship titles and two Cup trophies. As the president of the club's Assembly, he made a great contribution to winning six more championship titles and three Montenegrin Cup trophies. However, he left his greatest mark through his numerous students, some of whom are now members of the first team of Budućnost, and some are themselves coaches in the club's chess school. Also, almost the entire lineup of ŠK Omladinac-Budućnost is made up of young players who were lucky enough to have him teach them the secrets of the ancient game.
Organizing the memorial tournament is a way for ŠK Budućnost to preserve the memory of Radojica Dabetić and thus try to repay him at least part of the debt for everything he did for his club and for Montenegrin chess.
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