The first Tournament of Peace after independence in the Republic of Croatia, held from the 12th until the 23rd of November 2018, has shown how big of a need has been for a chess competition like this. The tournament attracted the attention of the entire city of Zagreb, Croatian and world audience with it’s attractive field and it’s competitive and high quality chess games. There was no surprise when the idea of the second Tournament of Peace had been supported by all of the structures of the City of Zagreb for the purpose of promoting and development of chess in Zagreb and Croatia.
Without the support of the City of Zagreb and without the sponsorship of city major Milan Bandic, the tournament could not be held in spite all of the efforts coming from the members of the Zagreb Chess Federation. Because this sports manifestation has been elevated in the rank of competition of city importance, I believe that in the future Zagreb’s chess players will have the opportunity to enjoy the performances of the leading european and world players.
With chess competitions such as Zagreb Open, the memorial of grandmaster Krunoslav Hulak, and the 57th Traditional New Year Blitz Tournament, played in honour of the first Croatian grandmaster Mijo Udovcic, and by organizing the Tournament of Peace, Zagreb has positioned itself as the leading chess european city.
The second Tournament of Peace will be held from the 19th until the 30th of November 2019 in the well known Zagreb hotel „Palace“, which has a rich tradition of organizing chess competitions and which accommodated the legendary Robert Bobby Fischer.
In the parameters of the tournament, on the rest day, a simul will be played by grandmasters who are known worldwide against junior players from Zagreb and public figures out of sports, culture and politics. Also, the rest day will be a great opportunity for the participants of the tournament to visit some of the historical and culturally important sites from Zagreb’s inheritance.
Alongside the tournament sponsor, the major of Zagreb, Mr. Milan Bandic, Zagreb chess federation owns special gratitude to the Zagreb sport Federation, the City sports and youth office and to the sponsors and donors who unselfishly give their support for this competition to be possible.
On my behalf, I would like to especially thank the members of the organisation board, grandmasters Alojzije Janković and Mladen Palac, for their enormous effort shown while promoting this tournament and their engagement in finding players for it. Also, worthy of words of gratitude is the member of the steering committee (management board) of the Zagreb chess Federation Andrija Fiamengo, who had a big part in organising this Tournament of Peace.
I believe that this tournament will write new pages of Zagreb, Croatian and world chess history.