The 2024 European Individual Chess Championship commenced today in Petrovac, Montenegro.
The Opening ceremony of the event took place shortly before the start of the first round, with the attendance of the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Vice President Mr. Alojzije Jankovic, Deputy Prime Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development of Montenegro Mr. Milun Zogovic, Mr. Vladimir Obradovic on behalf of the Ministry of Sports and Youth of Montenegro, President of the Montenegro Chess Federation Mr. Jovan Milovic, ECU Honorary Vice President Mr. Veselin Draskovic, and other distinguished guests.
ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Deputy Prime Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development of Montenegro Mr. Milun Zogovic played the first ceremonial move on the top board to open the first round.
Most of the games in the first round finished with decisive results and only 23 draws. A few upsets marked the beginning of the event including draws of the top seeded players with underdogs. GM Jorden Van Foreest (NED, 2687) drew with black against FM Atilla Kuru (TUR, 2371), GM Shant Sargsyan (ARM, 2655) couldn’t prevail with whites against FM Matic Lavrencic (SLO, 2366), GM Etienne Bacrot (FRA, 2653) played a draw against FM Henry Edward Tudor (ROU, 2365), the game between GM Aleksandr Predke (SRB, 2652) and IM Ori Kochavi (ISR, 2363) concluded with perpetual check, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2640) agreed to a draw against FM Borna Derakhshani (ENG, 2355).
All results, pairings and rankings can be found here.
The second round starts tomorrow at 15:00 CET and live video coverage can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic.
Photos by Mark Livshitz and Djordje Cmiljanic
