Bosnia and Herzegovina Championship

Predrag Nikolic wins the trophy

The 3rd Bosnia and Herzegovina Individual Championship took place on 18-26th December 2007 in Sarajevo. Bosnian chess experienced many problems over the last couple of years, and the culmination was reached when national team didn't appear for the first round of the European Team Championship without notifying the organizers.

Some of the top players have left to seek better conditions in other federations. Ivan Sokolov is playing for Netherlands, while Grandmasters Bojan Kurajica and Emir Dizdarevic have moved to Croatian rating list two years ago. Another silver medalist from the 1994 Moskow Olympiad, IM Rade Milovanovic, went to USA to create unbeatable UTD college team. There were movements in positive direction - GM Milan Vukic and IM Vlado Jakovljevic have returned from Serbian rating list.

Currently best Bosnian players have gathered in the capitol of Sarajevo to determinate national champion over the nine rounds of all-play-all tournament. It was basically a race between three Grandmasters - Nikolic, Predojevic and Saric. Saric languished in the penultimate round, while Predojevic couldn't achieve more than a draw against Jakovljevic in the last round, thus handing the trophy to Predrag Nikolic who already was champion of Yugoslavia and Netherlands in the past.

Borki Predojevic and Predrag Nikolic

Final standings:

1. GM Predrag Nikolic 2657 - 7.0
2. GM Borki Predojevic 2645 - 6.5
3. GM Ibro Saric 2541 - 6.0
4. IM Vlado Jakovljevic 2461 - 5.0
5-6. IM Zeljko Bogut 2458 and IM Zoran Runic 2417 - 4.5
7-9. IM Sahbaz Nurkic 2415, IM Dalibor Stojanovic 2510 and GM Milan Vukic 2474 - 3.0
10. IM Atif Dumpor 2399 - 2.5