Ahead of VSK Gorenje, on additional criteria
What an epic last round! Two powerful teams displayed wonderful chess and team spirit, but the winner can be only one. At the end, Beograd Beopublikum and VSK Gorenje were even in both team and individual scores and the former took the trophy only on 2nd additional criteria – their mutual match score.
Three last placed are being relegated to the 2nd division – Bora Kostic, Agronom and Rad. GM Ivan Ivanisevic continued to play in excellent form following his win at Kavala Open and with 8.5/11 achieved 2713 FIDE performance. IM Goran Arsovic achieved GM norm, while Goran Pavlovic and Nikola Nestorovic have scored IM norms. Well done! A few words about the matches.

1st place: Beograd Beopublikum
Beograd Beopublikum played against long ago relegated Rad, but the “Constructors” have pulled strong resistance even without the 1st board GM Evgeny Postny. GM Igor Miladinovic was first to score one of his typical wins against French defence. FM Sinisa Dujkovic strikes back taking his 2nd GM scalp on Milos Perunovic. Next Arkadij Naiditsch set nice mating net against GM Dragan Paunovic on board one and GM Aleksa Strikovic outwitted inexperienced junior Petar Krstic. The last two games were drawn in slightly better positions for Beopublikum, probably following favorable result in Gorenje’s match.
Bora Kostic forfeited against VSK Gorenje on board one as GM Andrei Maksimenko had to leave. But playing for the stay in Premier League, they gave Gorenje honorable fight. First FM Boban Bogosavljevic neutralized GM Ivan Ivanisevic by imposing constant exchanges which black couldn’t avoid. Next was GM Bosko Abramovic’s win against over-optimistic GM Dragoljub Velimirovic and the score was even with three games to go. Moldovan GM Viorel Iordachescu demolished GM Milan Drasko’s French defence with a brilliant attack, but GM Mihajlo Stojanovic lost against IM Petar Benkovic after refusing moves repetition in weaker position. Finally, GM Borko Lajthajm converted advantage against FM Slobodan Munizaba for the overall match win, but still insufficient for the League title.

2nd place: Valjevski SK Gorenje
Spartak was doing well until the last third of the championship, but then they completely run out of fuel. Today they lost against Novosadski SK and dropped to 5th place while Novosadski stayed 3rd. Sloga Amiga beat Agronom to stay in the league as expected and BSK Gambit beat SK ZTP 4-2 to climb up on the 4th place.
Finally, we have to admit that we’re (partly) losing the bet proposed yesterday. Partizan and Radnicki played only five quick draws, and not 6 as we predicted. In the noble cause, captains have agreed giving chance to IM Goran Arsovic to play for the GM norm against IM Zoran Novoselski. Novoselski was better over the first half of the game, but playing for attack, he underestimated the annoying pin on the long diagonal. By the time he decided to give the exchange back, the game was already lost and Arsovic achieved desired norm.

3rd place: Novosadski SK DDOR
Men’s League, Round 11 on 2007/09/01 at 15.00
Valjevski SK Gorenje – Bora Kostic 3.5-2.5
GM Branko Damljanovic (SRB 2606) – GM Andrei Maksimenko (UKR 2505) +:-
GM Ivan Ivanisevic (SRB 2595) – FM Boban Bogosavljevic (SRB 2491) draw
GM Viorel Iordachescu (MDA 2584) – GM Milan Drasko (SRB 2552) 1-0
GM Dragoljub Velimirovic (SRB 2442) – GM Bosko Abramovic (SRB 2516) 0-1
GM Mihajlo Stojanovic (SRB 2601) – IM Petar Benkovic (SRB 2465) 0-1
GM Borko Lajthajm (SRB 2511) – FM Slobodan Munizaba (SRB 2293) 1-0
Sloga Amiga – Agronom 4.5-1.5
GM Konstantin Sakaev (RUS 2634) – GM Dragan Kosic (MNE 2501) 1-0
GM Bojan Vuckovic (SRB 2563) – IM Andjelko Dragojlovic (SRB 2432) 1-0
GM Dejan Pikula (SRB 2504) – Zoran Grujic (SRB 2362) 1-0
GM Dusan Rajkovic (SRB 2522) – IM Atanas Kizov (MKD 2396) draw
IM Zoran Arsovic (SRB 2451) – FM Miroslav Mihalj (SRB 2323) draw
IM Slobo Vratonjic (SRB 2453) – Ratko Bulajic (SRB 2321) draw

IM Goran Arsovic – IM Zoran Novoselski 1-0
Partizan Partner Inzinjering – Radnicki 3.5-2.5
GM Stelios Halkias (GRE 2580) – GM Dragisa Blagojevic (MNE 2502) draw
GM Milan Matulovic (SRB 2389) – IM Nenad Aleksic (SRB 2374) draw
GM Stefan Djuric (SRB 2472) – Goran Pavlovic (SRB 2372) draw
GM Miroslav Tosic (SRB 2437) – GM Dragan Barlov (SRB 2469) draw
IM Goran Arsovic (SRB 2470) – IM Zoran Novoselski (SRB 2375) 1-0
IM Anto Rmus (MNE 2376) – FM Ivan Martic (SRB 2311) draw
Rad – SK Beograd Beopublikum 2-4
GM Dragan Paunovic (SRB 2531) – GM Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2652) 0-1
IM Zeljko Djukic (SRB 2402) – GM Igor Miladinovic (SRB 2605) 0-1
FM Sinisa Dujkovic (SRB 2407) – GM Milos Perunovic (SRB 2589) 1-0
IM Zdenko Krnic (SRB 2385) – GM Goran Cabrilo (SRB 2496) draw
Petar Krstic (SRB 2327) – GM Aleksa Strikovic (SRB 2567) 0-1
IM Milos Jovicic (SRB 2347) – GM Miodrag R Savic (SRB 2514) draw

GM Dragan Paunovic – GM Arkadij Naiditsch 0-1
BSK Gambit – SK ZTP 4-2
GM Yuri Solodovnichenko (UKR 2582) – GM Borki Predojevic (BIH 2628) draw
GM Milos Pavlovic (SRB 2541) – GM Miroslav Markovic (SRB 2442) +:-
IM Slavisa Brenjo (SRB 2485) – IM Branko Tadic (SRB 2500) draw
GM Slobodan Martinovic (SRB 2447) – GM Goran M Todorovic (SRB 2471) draw
GM Vladimir G Kostic (SRB 2395) – IM Milos M Pavlovic (SRB 2438) draw
IM Mihajlo Zlatic (SRB 2450) – Nikola Nestorovic (SRB 2424) 1-0
Novosadski SK DDOR – Spartak 4.5-1.5
GM Robert Markus (SRB 2586) – GM Nikola Sedlak (SRB 2590) draw
GM Petar Popovic (SRB 2474) – GM Dusan Popovic (SRB 2551) draw
GM Aleksandar Kovacevic (SRB 2566) – GM Zoran Jovanovic (CRO 2537) 1-0
GM Dragan Solak (SRB 2566) – GM Nikola Djukic (MNE 2531) draw
GM Vladislav Nevednichy (ROM 2523) – Dejan Leskur (SRB 2482) 1-0
IM Zdenko Stupavski (SRB 2378) – Balind Nadj Hedjesi (SRB 2371) 1-0
Final standings:
1-2. Beograd Beopublikum [2] and VSK Gorenje [0] 18.0 (41.5)
3. Novosadski SK DDOR 15.0
4. BSK Gambit 13.0
5-6. Spartak and Partizan 12.0
7-8. ZTP and Sloga Amiga 10.0
9. Radnicki 9.0
10. Bora Kostic 8.0
11. Agronom 4.0
12. Rad 3.0

Beograd Beopublikum captain Nikola Marcetic with the trophy

GM norm for Goran Arsovic

GM Konstantin Sakaev – GM Dragan Kosic 1-0

IM Slavisa Brenjo – IM Branko Tadic draw

GM Stefan Djuric – Goran Pavlovic draw

GM Viorel Iordachescu – GM Milan Drasko 1-0

FM Sinisa Dujkovic – GM Milos Perunovic 1-0

GM Robert Markus – GM Nikola Sedlak draw

GM Ivan Ivanisevic – FM Boban Bogosavljevic draw

GM Goran Cabrilo – IM Zdenko Krnic draw

GM Dragan Barlov – GM Miroslav Tosic draw
Photos and report by IA Branka Vujic-Katanic
