Five rounds played at European Individual Chess Championship 2024

Five rounds have been played at the European Individual Chess Championship 2024 in Petrovac, Montenegro, and no player remained perfect in the tournament.

Four players tie for the top scoring 4.5 points: GM Frederik Svane (GER, 2654), GM Maksim Chigaev (ESP, 2605), GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL, 2632) and GM Aleksandar Indjic (SRB, 2623).

The co-leaders from the previous round GM Maksim Chigaev (ESP, 2605) and GM Frederik Svane (GER, 2654) drew against each-other in relatively short game which concluded after only 13 moves.

GM Ivan Cheparinov (BUL, 2632) defeated GM Nikita Petrov (MNE, 2590) after a very intense game of 106 moves. Cheparinov gained a clear advantage from early middlegame, and pushed for a win in a drawish Queens’ endgame. Petrov eventually cracked under the pressure and Ivan Cheparinov scored a win to be leap on the top.

GM Aleksandar Indjic (SRB, 2623) defeated GM Felix Blohberger (AUT, 2536) with black pieces. A dynamical position finished quickly after Blohberger’s blunder who accepted the Knight’s sacrifice missing the mating net around his King. Indjic calculated well and won the game to be in the co-lead of the tournament.

The four leaders are followed by 28 players who score 4 points each, including top seeds GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO, 2712) and GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU, 2687) who are in the group of runner-ups. The sixth round will be played tomorrow at 15:00 CET and the players will then head to the free day on Thursday.

Results, rankings & pairings

Photos by Mark Livshitz