Croatian Cup
This year’s This year’s Croatian Cup was held in Vodice from May 18-22. After many years, this competition moved from Mali Lošinj to a new location. It was played as standard, like every year, 6 rounds according to the Swiss system. As a member of the 1A league, SK Pula had the obligation to participate in this year’s cup. With the easing of measures related to Covid-19, tournaments are slowly returning, so our members couldn’t wait to finally play one tournament. was held in Vodice from May 18-22. After many years, this competition moved from Mali Lošinj to a new location. It was played as standard, like every year, 6 rounds according to the Swiss system. As a member of the 1A league, SK Pula had the obligation to participate in this year’s cup. With the easing of measures related to Covid-19, tournaments are slowly returning, so our members couldn’t wait to finally play one tournament.
Representatives of ŠK Pula
The club was represented at this year’s cup by GM Nenad Ferčec, IM Miroslav Žufić, FM Marko Rubil, IM Milan Franić, and our talented junior 17-year-old Niko Peruško. We were seeded seventh on the starting list, and in the end we took sixth place, so we can say that we had a successful performance.
This year we decided to give Peruško the opportunity to play a couple of strong games and gain the necessary experience, and at the same time we rewarded him for his good performance in the first junior league, where his victory in the last round left us in the first league. Niko played 4 games, and achieved one victory, one draw and two losses, with the fact that in both games he lost he played very well and only recorded defeats in the finals. Also making his debut for our club was a long-time friend of our club, and from this year officially a member, Marko Rubil. Marko also had the honor of being the captain of the club at the cup, and won the most points of all our players. He showed that he will be a great reinforcement for the 1A league.
Fečec played on the first board in line with expectations, Žufić failed a little on the second board, while Franić once again confirmed his quality by winning both games he played.
First places
This year the cup was won by chess players from GŠK Solin-Cemex (from the nickname “Mravi”). This year, they strengthened themselves with the most talented Croatian player, Leon Livajić, and with this result they announced that they plan to compete with Liburnija and Zagreb for the title of Croatian champion in the fall.
Second place was taken by the chess players of ŠK Zagreb, with only half an individual point less than the winner.
The third place was won somewhat surprisingly but absolutely deserved by the chess players from ŠK Sveta Nedelja. With this result, they just continued their successful year, because recently their juniors also became Croatian team champions.
The fourth place was taken by ŠK Liburnija, which they cannot be satisfied with, because they are led by arguably the best Croatian player, Ivan Šarić, and will certainly try to wash away the bitter taste from this year’s cup in the championship in the fall.
Link for results and other details: Chess Results