Karthikeyan Murali and Pranesh M dominate Serbian First League 2025 for ŠK Jelica Pep - Goračići
GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Pranesh M scored an unbeaten 8/10 and 8/11 to ensure his team ŠK Jelica Pep - Goračići win the Serbian First League 2025 Open. The team scored an unbeaten 31/33 to become the champion. They finished a whopping six points ahead of the rest. The defending champion, ZMAJ - Belgrade scored 25/33 to secure second place. GM Aditya Mittal and GM Bharath Subramaniyam H contributed a crucial 7/11 and 7/10 each respectively. Bharath remained undefeated. Radnik - Surdulica scored 21/33 to finish third. In the Women, Crvena Zvezda - Beograd and Jugovic - Kać scored an identical 26/33 each. They secured first and second place according to tie-breaks. Part and Glory - Pirot scored 23/33 to finish third. WIM Sarayu Velpula was the sole Indian in the team. She scored 5/10. Photo: Šahovski savez Srbije
Aditya Mittal and Bharath Subramaniyam second for ZMAJ - Belgrade, Sarayu Velpula third for Part and Glory - Pirot in Women
There were four Indians in Open and Women's event each. GM Karthikeyan Murali, GM Pranesh M, GM Aditya Mittal and GM Bharath Subramaniyam H gained 14.7, 8.6, 1.9 and 7.9 Elo rating points respectively. Among the Women, only IM Savitha Shri B increased her Elo rating by 15 points.
Two of the top-rated players of ŠK Jelica Pep - Goračići, GM Karthikeyan Murali (2669) and GM Pranesh M (2611) lived up to the expectations. They scored an unbeaten 8/10 and 8/11 each, becoming the top scorers of the team.
Karthikeyan - Indjic, Round 8
Karthikeyan found a nice practical idea 42.Na7 Kd8 43.Nc6+ Bxc6 44.dxc6 Re7?? 45.Rxe7 Kxe7 46.h4 and White converted the winning pawn endgame comfortably.
Pranesh - Aditya Mittal, Round 11
Both GM Pranesh M (2611) and GM Aditya Mittal (2589) launched an attack on their opponent's king. 34.h5 cxb2 35.h6+ Kf7 36.e4 Qc3 37.Rf1 Rc8 38.Bd1 Rc4 39.d6 Ke6 40.d7 Nxd7 41.Bg4+ Ke7 42.Qf7+ and White won the game in the next few moves.
A total of 12 teams took part in a round-robin tournament. Only six out of 6-9 could play in each round. The tournament took place at Hotel Cepter Drina in Bajina Bašta, Serbia from 27th September to 7th October 2024. The time control was 40 moves in 90 minutes+ 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.
Replay all available games in Open
Replay all available games in Women
Final standings in Open
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | JELICA PEP – Goračići | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 42 | 0 |
| 2 | 8 | ZMAJ - Belgrade | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 41 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | RADNIK - Surdulica | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 38,5 | 0 |
| 4 | 7 | RUDAR - Kostolac | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 36 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | DEC – DEC | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 37,5 | 0 |
| 6 | 11 | NAFTAGAS - Elemir | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 37 | 0 |
| 7 | 12 | CRVENA ZVEZDA - Beograd | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 35 | 0 |
| 8 | 6 | PTT - Beograd | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 35 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | POŽEGA - Požega | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 29 | 0 |
| 10 | 1 | NOVOSADSKI ŠK – Novi Sad | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 30,5 | 0 |
| 11 | 10 | JUGOVIĆ - Kać | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 27,5 | 0 |
| 12 | 2 | SLOVEN - Ruma | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Final standings in Women
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | CRVENA ZVEZDA – Beograd | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 28,5 | 0 |
| 2 | 4 | JUGOVIĆ – Kać | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 27 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | PART AND GLORY - Pirot | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 27,5 | 0 |
| 4 | 8 | SIRMIUM – Sremska Mitrovica | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 25,5 | 0 |
| 5 | 9 | RUDAR – Kostolac | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 24,5 | 0 |
| 6 | 7 | OŠK PARAĆIN Outpost chess - Paraćin | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 21,5 | 0 |
| 7 | 12 | MIRIJEVO – Belgrade | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 22 | 0 |
| 8 | 10 | ZLATAR – Nova Varosh | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 20,5 | 0 |
| 9 | 2 | DShK FOUNDED – Niš | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 19,5 | 0 |
| 10 | 6 | WORK - RADNIČKI - Belgrade | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 22,5 | 0 |
| 11 | 1 | MLADOST - Lučani | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 0 |
| 12 | 11 | KRALJ - Belgrade | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
Links
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