The 2024 European Individual Chess Championship was won by GM Aleksandar Indjic of Serbia. Indjic began the tournament ranked 33rd. En route to the title, he defeated the tournament’s top-ranked player, GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who plays for Slovenia. Indjic may be the tallest grandmaster in the world, with his height reported as 6 feet and 8 inches (2.032 meters).
Serbia’s pride and joy
GM Aleksandar Indjic is a four-time Serbian champion. When he won the 2024 European Individual Chess Championship with an undefeated score of 9 points out of 11 rounds, Serbians rejoiced.
The University of Texas at Dallas
Indjic studied psychology at The University of Texas at Dallas and played on its chess team. One of his team duties was to play in the annual Svetozar Gligorić Transatlantic Cup, an online match versus the University of Belgrade. There were 16 boards per side, with a live video feed from each university. When Indjic returned to his native Serbia, he appeared on the video feed from Belgrade. His former teammates, in Texas, waved hello to him there.
2024 European Individual Championship
The European Individual Chess Championship had a 100,000 € prize fund, with Indjic winning 20,000 € for first place. The top 20 players qualified for the FIDE World Cup. Results are available at this link: https://chess-results.com/tnr1011499.aspx
Playing as Black
When Indjic was a student, he gave a lecture, preserved on video, about a draw he had as Black in 2016 with GM Sam Sevian. In that game, he played 1…d5 against Sevian’s 1. e4, commenting that it was his first time playing that opening in a Classical game.
In the 2024 European Individual Chess Championship, GM Vladimir Fedoseev had White against Indjic and played 1.
