Fourth Chess Tournament “Heydar Aliyev Trophy”: Nikola Đukić Won for the Third Time in a Row

The fourth memorial chess tournament, "Hejdar Aliyev Trophy," was held at Portonovi Conference Center. It was officially opened by Azad Naghiyev, Head of the Azerbaijan Mission in Montenegro, and the Chairman of the Municipal Assembly in Herceg Novi, Ivan Otović.

This year as well, the tournament was organized by the Cultural and Economic Center of Azerbaijan-Montenegro with the support of Azmont Investments company, in cooperation with Montenegro Chess Federation and Prosvjeta Club from Podgorica.

The reason for organizing the tournament is the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev, a prominent Azerbaijani statesman, former president of Azerbaijan, and famous chess player.

Heydar Aliyev is also a prominent Azerbaijani statesman, the former president of Azerbaijan, and the creator of Azerbaijan as we know it today. This year was declared the year of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani Government is organizing events in different countries. We are very glad that it has already become a tradition in Montenegro to organize a chess tournament," said Seyran Mirzazada, a representative of Portonovi.

There were 60 competitors in the tournament, and in the fierce competition, Nikola Đukić had the best result of all chess players. That was Đukić's third victory at the “Heydar Aliyev Trophy“ tournament.

"There was a very tough competition, practically all the best Montenegrin players who are currently in Montenegro participated. It started well from the start. In the middle of the tournament, I moved into the lead position and managed to keep it until the end. It is great that we have as many tournaments as possible in such a beautiful environment, and I can give all the praise to the organizers for the great conditions and the beautiful environment of Portonovi," said the chess grandmaster.

In addition to the cups and medals for winners, ten regular and four special prizes were awarded. The president of the Chess Federation of Montenegro, Jovan Milović, pointed out that this edition of the tournament also went great.

"In my opinion, this is a beautiful promotion of chess, but also of the Portonovi complex. I think that such events should be organized more often for the joy of chess players and the tourist community," Milović said.

The co-organizers of the competition for the fourth year in a row were the representatives of the Prosvjeta Chess Club. The president of this club, Željko Sekulović, expressed the hope that this successful cooperation will continue, as well as the cooperation with Azerbaijani colleagues.

"The tournament was extremely competitive. There were nine rounds of 10'+5 seconds per move. The players were really up to the task, and the best player won. The diversity of chess players, cultures, and chess schools, are all desirable and can be a plus for chess players in Montenegro. Kudos to the organizers, we'll see each other again next year," noted Sekulović.

Such positive impressions after the tournament are an indication that this is just the beginning of a beautiful and long journey, the organizers and participants agreed.