Petar Radić – Six out of Six in Pančevo

Petar Radić won the 6th Pančevo Backgammon Tournament, played as part of the Serbian Individual Championship. Six rounds, six wins, and the only player in the field who did not lose a single match.

The tournament was held on 19 September 2026 in Pančevo, between the two days of the Serbian Team Championship. It was organised by Backgammon Club Pančevo and played at the premises of the “Svetozar Gligorić” Chess Club.

35 players took their seats at the boards, 28 of them from Serbia and four from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six rounds were played in a Swiss system with no elimination, and matches were to 7 points. Short matches leave no room for a slow start, so every point in every round mattered.

The road to the title

Radić opened the tournament with a 7–4 win over Milan Gajić, then beat Dragana Mitrović 7–5. In the third round he outclassed Vladimir Tacić 7–1 and entered round four as one of four players on 3–0.

That is where the match of the tournament awaited him. Against Luka Domazet, also unbeaten, Radić won 7–6, by the narrowest possible margin. That single point would prove decisive for the final standings.

Radić did not let up after that. In the fifth round, in a clash between two unbeaten players, he defeated Jusuf Melajac 7–2, and in the final round he also beat Nikola Korać 7–4. He finished with six wins and a point difference of +20.

For Radić, this was also a sweet consolation after the Team Championship, where his ČENS fell short of the semi-finals. In the team event, Radić won two of his three matches for his club.

Final standings

Luka Domazet took second place with five wins and one loss — the one to Radić. Earlier he had beaten Miloš Mikić 7–0, and in the final round he also defeated Vanja Domazet 7–2. With the same number of wins, a better Buchholz (24 to 22) placed him ahead of Mikić.

Mikić carried his form from the Team Championship, where he did not lose a single match, into the individual tournament. After a 0–7 defeat to Luka Domazet in the second round, he strung together four wins, the last of them 7–5 against Jusuf Melajac, to take third place.

Fourth place went to Zvezdan Kljajić, with five wins (including a first-round bye) and his only loss coming against Nikola Korać (1–7). In the final round Kljajić beat Kristijan Avgustin 7–0.

The biggest slide belonged to Jusuf Melajac. After four wins to start, including 7–3 over Ivan Bogdanović, he lost to Radić and Mikić and finished the tournament in sixth place.

Finally, credit to the organiser, Branko Prvulj, and his team from Backgammon Club Pančevo. They put on three days of top-class backgammon, with two tournaments and 35 players in the individual event alone. The organisation was excellent, and this weekend Pančevo confirmed itself as one of the best hosts in our championship.

All results – VI pančevački bekgemon turnir