Croatian Chess Player Ivan Saric New European Champion
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatia now has the European Chess Champion (Photo: Croatian Chess Federation)
Croatian chess player Ivan Saric is the new champion of Europe after winning the 2018 European Individual Chess Championship in Batumi, Georgia today.
Saric (27) from Split in Croatia, beat David Navara from the Czech Republic to claim the title with 8.5 points from 11 games at the championships which featured 302 competitors from 34 countries.
302 players fought it out (Photo: European Chess Union)
Ivan won seven matches, drew two and lost just one match during the championship and went into the last round 5th on the table. His victory over Navara, who is one of Europe’s biggest chess stars, decided the event as a number of other results went Saric’s way.
Ranked 26th going into the tournament, Ivan’s win is the biggest in Croatian chess history together with Zdenko Kozula’s win in 2006 at the same tournament.
Ivan Saric wins gold (Photo: Croatian Chess Federation)
Saric is a multiple Croatian national champion and was a former European junior and world champion.
