The Chess Federation of Montenegro traditionally opens the new competitive year by organizing the Individual Senior Championship of Montenegro.
This year's edition of the championship, the 78th in a row, will be held in Podgorica, in the hall of the "Radosav Ljumović" library, from February 10th to 19th.
The pace of the game is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes until the end of the game with a bonus of 30 seconds for each move played starting from the first.
The "Sofia rule" will apply, it is not possible to reach a draw before the thirtieth move. One round will be played each day, except for the sixth day of the championship, when a "double program" is planned, meaning the sixth and seventh rounds will be played.
The prize fund is 15.000 euros and is divided into twelve regular and five special prizes.
The first prize is 3.500 euros, while the twelfth prize is 250 euros. Special prizes are 200 euros each, and are for the best young man and woman, while rating prizes are in the following categories: up to 1.700, up to 2.000 and up to 2.200 rating points.
The title of champion of Montenegro will be defended by grandmaster Nikita Petrov, who won the two previous editions of the most important national competition. Currently, 60 competitors have registered, and Petrov is the first favorite according to the rating. In the starting position number two is grandmaster Denis Kadrić, while the third favorite is the ten-time champion of Montenegro, their colleague by title, Nikola Đukić.
Next are: Oleg Jaksin, who has been on the Montenegrin rating list since last year, two-time champion of Montenegro, international master Blažo Kalezić, national team member Nemanja Vukčević. The championship will also be given a special charm by the performance of the legendary grandmaster Božidar Ivanović, who has 16 winning trophies of the most important national championship in his showcases, and the performance of four-time champion of Montenegro, Predrag Nikač.
It is interesting to note that the participants in this year's championship have 34 winning trophies in the history of the national championship.
The first round games are scheduled for tomorrow at 16pm, and can be followed on the website of the Chess Federation of Montenegro. The championship is sponsored by the Ministry of Sports and Youth.
Bonus video:
