Third Saturday Chess Tournament in Montenegro

My Dear Chess Friends!

In this post I want to share with you where to play for IM or GM norm and how to get these norms. Everything is based on my own experience. Looking ahead I can say that I didn't get a norm, but could do it. However, I increased my rating by 46 points playing in 2 tournaments in a row and reached 2300 to get a FIDE Master title.

In October I decided to go to Europe and play in 2 round-robin tournaments with IM norm: First Saturday in Budapest and Third Saturday in Djenovici, Montenegro. Each tournament has 9 rounds and the average rating of the first one was 2246, the second one - 2258!

That's why to get an IM norm I should score 7 of 9 what is a really difficult task, but possible.

The tournament in Budapest was organanized by IO Laszlo Nagy who conducts such tournaments for many years. And even such strong players like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana participated there when they were youngsters.

I came to Budapest 1 day before the game, but lost the first game to a young boy from Norway. I was better for almost the entire game, and after 4 hours of playing we passed into the endgame that was in my favor and I could really win because of Zugwang, but didn't find it - we both were already in a time trouble. Moreover, finally I blundered the exchange. I sacraficed it considering that I win in 2 moves, but then realized that my king was under a check and I lost the material and then the game.

The second game I won against the guy who finally got the first place in this tournament. The game was really tough regardless of extra piece that I gained in the very beginning. In this tournament I scored 6 points of 9 (+26 rating points). 1 extra point (for example, victory in the first round) and I could get an IM norm.

Full results of this tournament in Budapest can be found here.

After I travelled to Belgrade to fly to Tivat airport and get to Djenovici, Montenegro. You can follow me on Instagram to watch my trip.

I prepared a short overview video for you from the tournament in Montenegro. I highly recommend to visit this country, I really enjoyed staying there,

Third Saturday tournament is conducted by FM Goran Tomic who is a well-known chess organizer in the Balkans.

As usual I came the day before the first game, but according to the "good old tradition" lost the in the first round to IM Boroljub Zlatanovic. I was playing with white pieces and got the advantage because of better playing the opening, but then chose a wrong plan and had to defend the position, but couldn't.

Then I started winning. And in this post I would like to share 2 games that I played against strong players and may be I can call them best games from that tournament. If you have any ideas or suggestions about these games, please, share in the comment section.

Round 3. CM Victor Neustroev - IM Zdenko Plenkovic

Round 4. IM Vladan Rabrenovic - CM Victor Neustroev

Before the last round I scored 5 points of 8, and it was ok for me to have a draw in the last round to achieve 2300 FIDE rating. That's why in the last round (I was playing black) I offered a draw in the very beginning and my opponent accepted it. Finally - 5.5 of 9.

However, I could play much better in this tournament. I drew with WFM Vishwa Vasnawala in absolutely winning rook endgame and lost to FM Mark Lyell in a slightly better endgame, because of a stupid blunder. In the tournament in Budapest I defeated them both.

You can find full results of my tournament in Montenegro here.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them.

Best Regards,

FM Victor Neustroev