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Chess Tournaments in Serbia

Serbia carries forward one of the strongest chess traditions in the Balkans, rooted in the golden era of Yugoslav chess and still visible today in a deep pool of grandmasters and a busy tournament calendar.

The national scene

Chess in Serbia is run by the Chess Federation of Serbia (Šahovski savez Srbije), a FIDE member federation based in Belgrade. The national championship traces back to 1935, when it began as the Yugoslav Chess Championship in Belgrade, and has continued through the Serbia and Montenegro years to today's standalone Serbian Chess Championship. Belgrade and Novi Sad are the traditional centers of the game, each with long-running clubs and league teams, and club chess is organized through team competitions such as the Serbian First League (Prva liga). Novi Sad hosted the 29th Chess Olympiad in 1990, one of the largest Olympiads of its era. The country's competitive tradition was built by Yugoslav-era grandmasters from Serbia, above all Svetozar Gligorić, and continues today through a strong current generation of grandmasters.

Play is centered on Belgrade and Novi Sad, both with established clubs and long-running team leagues
The Chess Federation of Serbia (based in Belgrade) is a full FIDE member and runs the national championship every year
Serbia regularly produces internationally competitive grandmasters, a legacy of the strong Yugoslav-era chess culture