Tough start in Serbia
Me, Anders Rundgren and Bent Hestad are now in Serbia playing an international tournament. The tournament is in Obrenovac, a town 30km outside of Belgrade.
In the first round, I faced a very tough opponent. FM Ivan Martic played the King’s Indian defence against me, and was able to get a decisive advantage in the early middle game. Today I will meet an unrated player, so it’s hard to know how difficult it will be.
Bent struggled against a 2100-player, but certainly had drawing chances. Unfortunately he didn’t find the right moves in the rook endgame. Anders played very well, also against a 2100-player, and won!! Today he faces a strong IM 
Our Serbian friend GM Mihajlo Stojanovic is also playing in the tournament, but he spends a lot of time to help us feel at home and to improve our chess. He’s a fantastic person and a great chess teacher! So far we’ve had a great time down here, and believe that our chess will improve a lot.