OTB in Serbia - Norm tournaments in Pozarevac

Serbia beat Germany at the European Team Championship thanks to a narrowly superior second score. The country of the new European champion is a chess-loving country and many organizers go to great lengths to set up round-robin tournaments with a lot of effort in order to guarantee norm possibilities.

The Serbian organizer Boban Maksimovic organized from the end of October to the end of November 2023 in Pozarevac, about 1.5 hours away from the Serbian capital Belgrade, three round-robin tournaments, a total of nine tournaments in a row - a special and remarkable achievement.

In the run-up to the event, the registration was somewhat unusual at first and the communication was a little bumpy. I discovered the reason for this the day before the first round: Boban used to communicate with me and all the other English-speaking participants with Google Translate! In the end it didn't matter a lot as chess is the common language, and it's the same everywhere around the world.

Compared to the usual round-robin tournaments, the experienced organizer relies on the clever Schiller system: four teams of three players each are formed, which means that the total of twelve players also form nine rounds in total.

Name cards for all players

The decisive difference, however, is that you can charge entry fees from nine players instead of the usual six players - the three highest title holders in the tournament, who no longer need the norms, will be paid by the organizer from the larger entry fee pot of nine players.

For the organizer an additional advantage is that if someone cancels spontaneously, he or she can still switch to the usual round robin tournament! Hopefully this system will also find favor in Germany - norm tournaments are not very popular due to the high cost and the less lucrative opportunities.

Thanks to the Schiller system, it allows organizers to collect 33% more entry fees. The organizer is then only responsible for dividing the teams in the best way so that the participants need as few points as possible to achieve their norms.

During my participation in the "Rudar 2 - GM Schiller" from 09 to 16 November with my current Elo of 2266, I was the last of the field. I came up against a strong field of participants: Against the three Bulgarian grandmasters Nikolov (2462 Elo) in the first round, Spasov (2481) in the sixth and Dimitrov (2518) in the seventh round I lost all the games with very few chances:

(Link to the study with all games: https://lichess.org/study/kYzgSSOM/ )

High concentration in the GM tournament - the venue was the Hotel Dunav in Pozarevac.

Against the Serbian FM and Lichess Streamer Milan Jocev (2338) alias @papadosor I had a good chance to win in round 2, but gave them away again - draw was the result and also in the following two in the two following rounds there were balanced games against FM Ivan Martic (2292) and chess coach IM Milovan Ratkovic (2410) alias @MilovanR , which consequently also ended in a draw.

In rounds 5 and 8, I eagerly awaited young Indian players whose Elo was originally around 2000, but after norm tournaments in Serbia last year climbed to almost 2400 each. Against FM Singh Walia Namitbir (2364) a sharp and complicated position quickly developed, in which we had chances on both sides and missed several chances - a draw was the result. In the eighth round, I had the best winning chances against the Indian FM Singh Sahib, who surprised me on move 1, but he also was not too familiar himself with the opening patterns. Also this game also ended in a draw.

In the last round I then lost without a chance against the Russian high-flyer of the tournament, the 13-year-old FM Ivan Zemlyanskii (2368), who took part in all three (!) GM tournaments in a row and really went on a run: In the first GM tournament he won 11.4 Elo points, in the second GM tournament 50.2 Elo with an IM norm and in the third GM tournament he even gained 62.6 Elo and a GM norm. He is now on the December Elo list with a total of 2492 rating points, i.e. only 8 points away from the magic 2500 Elo mark. Congratulations on this impressive increase!

Overall, with 2.5/9 I remained just below my Elo expectation - I hope to have learnt some chess lessons. It was clear to see in the GM tournament, for example, the high level of concentration shown by the participants. Hardly anyone stood up during the game, they were constantly busy calculating variations.

At the same time, IM tournaments and FM tournaments took place with somewhat weaker participants, and although no norms can be achieved in the FM tournaments, the participants from all countries can also gain a few extra Elo points.

There are often participants from all over the world in Serbia for several reasons: Firstly, the costs are significantly lower compared to other European countries and secondly, participants have the opportunity to take part in several norm tournaments in a row, which means they only have one journey to and from the event.

The playing hall for all participants

The organizers understandably ask for a deposit to confirm participation, so some participants pay a large sum in advance to take part in all the norm tournaments in a row. From 24 January to 15 February, round robin tournaments will once again take place in Pozarevac - interested participants can contact the organizer Boban Maksimovic via +381600711006 via WhatsApp/Viber or by e-mail (bobanmax973@gmail.com).

Note that this article was first published in the January 2024 issue of the German chess magazine Rochade Europa .