Final tournament taking place on 10-17th January in Pleven, Bulgaria

The final tournament of the 1st Balkan Grand Prix is taking place on 10-17th January in Pleven, Bulgaria. The players from BIH, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria are nominated by their respective chess federations or qualified from the consituting open tournaments – Sarajevo, Iasi, Obrenovac and Cetinje. Ten players are competing in a round-robin tournament, composing a field of the average elo 2543, or 12th FIDE category. The prize fund is 7000 EUR.

The top-seeded GM Bojan Vuckovic (SRB 2626) is currently leading with 3 points from four games, having scored two victories with white pieces. IM Momchil Nikolov (BUL 2539) and GM Constantin Lupulescu (ROM 2592) are sharing second with 2.5 points each. Replay the selected games bellow.

Round 4 standings:

1. GM Vuckovic Bojan 2626 SRB – 3.0

2-3. IM Nikolov Momchil 2539 BUL and GM Lupulescu Constantin 2592 ROU – 2.5

4-6. GM Sedlak Nikola 2563 SRB, GM Chatalbashev Boris 2561 BUL and Krivokapic Marko 2422 MNE – 2.0

7-10. GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2541 ROU, GM Iotov Valentin 2575 BUL, GM Drasko Milan 2537 MNE and IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2473 BIH – 1.5

GM Bojan Vuckovic

Round 1 – 11.01.2010

GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2541 ½ – ½ GM Lupulescu Constantin 2592

GM Chatalbashev Boris 2561 ½ – ½ IM Nikolov Momchil 2539

GM Sedlak Nikola 2563 ½ – ½ IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2473

Krivokapic Marko 2422 ½ – ½ GM Iotov Valentin 2575

GM Vuckovic Bojan 2626 1 – 0 GM Drasko Milan 2537

Round 2 – 12.01.2010

GM Lupulescu Constantin 2592 ½ – ½ GM Drasko Milan 2537

GM Iotov Valentin 2575 ½ – ½ GM Vuckovic Bojan 2626

IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2473 ½ – ½ Krivokapic Marko 2422

IM Nikolov Momchil 2539 1 – 0 GM Sedlak Nikola 2563

GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2541 ½ – ½ GM Chatalbashev Boris 2561

Round 3 – 13.01.2010

GM Chatalbashev Boris 2561 ½ – ½ GM Lupulescu Constantin 2592

GM Sedlak Nikola 2563 1 – 0 GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2541

Krivokapic Marko 2422 ½ – ½ IM Nikolov Momchil 2539

GM Vuckovic Bojan 2626 1 – 0 IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2473

GM Drasko Milan 2537 ½ – ½ GM Iotov Valentin 2575

Round 4 – 13.01.2010

GM Lupulescu Constantin 2592 1 – 0 GM Iotov Valentin 2575

IM Stojanovic Dalibor 2473 ½ – ½ GM Drasko Milan 2537

IM Nikolov Momchil 2539 ½ – ½ GM Vuckovic Bojan 2626

GM Szabo Gergely-Andras-Gyula 2541 ½ – ½ Krivokapic Marko 2422

GM Chatalbashev Boris 2561 ½ – ½ GM Sedlak Nikola 2563