Transatlantic Cup 2010
The Lecture Hall of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade was too small yesterday to receive all chess fans. The reason for this was the fifth match of two institutions which by all standards deserve to be called “chess universities”. After the victory in the first game, there followed three failures for Belgrade team, but the last year’s close defeat after the lead of 7,5: 4,5 gave boost to our students for this year’s game. They triumphed with 11,5: 4,5, and thus decreased the difference to 3:2 in the final score. More importantly, the cup will finally find its place on the shelves of Belgrade students, and everyone came to see the students of the University of Belgrade against their colleagues from the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD).
The American university has been Number 1 on its continent for years, not least thanks to the program “Mental Health for all Ages” which includes lessons about the ties of chess and education on undergraduate and postgraduate studies. In addition, for years they have allocated scholarships to chess players around the globe, who were led with great success by the Serbian trainer Rade Milovanovic.
This year’s “Transatlantic Cup” attracted a lot of attention. The game was played on 16 boards and full-time students from both universities had the right to play via the Internet, with video-conference connection. Our team featured university champions Ljilja Drljevic, art history student who gave a sparkling performance at this World University Championship and won a silver medal, and Nikola Nestorovic, team leader for the last and this year, a student of Teachers’ Training Faculty in Belgrade. We should by all means mention Marija Rakic, economy student, who has played for our Olympic Team this year. Although prognoses were optimistic this year, not everything was white for our team. Stankovic was the first to lose, then Krstic ended the game in a tie, but then our students woke up and had a row of seven victories.
All games were followed on video beams, and demonstrators to the numerous audience were International Master Jovan Todorovic and Marko Zivanic, Dallas student from Uzice.
Presence of all our great names of chess over the past years speaks of the size of this event. The match was opened by Vlade Divac, President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, who received a big round of applause from American students. This event was also attended by Prof. Dr. Milos Nedeljkovic, State Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, Prof. Dr. Marko Ivetic, Vice Rector for Science of the University of Belgrade, Prof. Dr. Milorad Milovancevic, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and renowned Grand Masters Aleksandar Matanovic, Brano Damljanovic, Sanja Vuksanovic, Bojan Vuckovic, and a large number of chess players and chess workers from Belgrade.
Results:
University of Belgrade – University of Dallas 11,5:4,5 (IM Nikola Nestorovic (2.452) – GM Joan Christian Cirilla (2.492) 1:0, Balind Nadj Hedjesi (2.368) – IM Hulio Sadora (2.473) 0:1, Milos Lapcevic (2.406) – IM Pucen Vang (2.468) 1:0, Milos Stankovic (2.364) – IM Salvius Bercis (2.447) 0:1, David Sarenac (2.265) – FM Tyler Huse (2.266) 1:0, FM Dusan Bojovic (2.330) – FM Tautvidas Vedrickas (2.325) 1:0, Petar Krstic (2.336) – Francisko Gvadalupe (2.200) tie, WIM LjIlja Drljevic (2298) – Nelson Lopes (2.163) 1:0, FM Danilo Cerovic (2.295) – Arthur Saphin (2.195) tie, Aleksandar Tot (2.315) – WIM Karina Vazirova (2.132) 1:0, Nenad Ravic (2.287) – WFM Nat Saheli (2.123) 1:0, Miroslav O. Jovanovic (2.117) – Courtney Jameson (1989) 0:1, WIM Marija Rakic (2.309) – Gerald Roberts 1:0, Aleksandar Vrbljanac (2.298) – John Enderleremi, Djuro Skaric (2.263) – Avi Levy 1:0, Nadezda Stojanovic2.027) – Rihanna English (1:0).
