About me

I was born on the 12th of June 1995 in Frankfurt, Germany. Even though both of my parents are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, they moved to Germany in 1992 because of the ongoing war in the Balkan countries. In 1998 my parents decided to move back to the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo. In Sarajevo I finished elementary and high school and then in 2014 I moved to Dallas, USA where I received a chess scholarship and attended the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). In May, 2018 I graduated with a bachelors degree in Finance and since then I live in Sarajevo as a professional chess player and coach.

Playing experience

My father introduced me to chess when I was about 5 years old and I played my first tournament when I was 10. At the age of 14 I became a International Master, and when I turned 18 I officially became a Grandmaster. My biggest success in my chess career so far was in 2012 when I became ABSOLUTE EUROPEAN CHAMPION in Rapid and Blitz chess. My current goal is to get to TOP 100 in the world. I am fluent in English, German and Bosnian, and I am available for lessons on many chess platforms(Playchess, ICC, Chess.com) After the introduction to chess by my father, for the next 5 years I bothered every family member and friend to play chess against me. My first big success came when I was 6 and I won against my grandfather 2-0 in a very heated match (long story short, someone threw the pieces and it’ was not me). At the beginning I took chess as a hobby and something that I like to do in my free time, but when I was 9 years old and was going to elementary school, my older friend and neighbor (at that time he was national champion in his age group), took me to a chess club after which I started going to tournaments and started playing and working on chess seriously. I was national champion in all of my age groups (U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-18). I didn’t play in the U-20 groups because at that time I started living in the US. I officially became a Grandmaster at the age of 18, even though I got all of my GM norms (which is the hardest part of becoming a grandmaster) when I was 16. I was struggling for some time to get my rating to the magic number of 2500. At one moment I was 2499 but then I lost 25 points in just one tournament which had a huge psychological impact on me and my chess. Even though that was a step back for me, once I overcame my psychological barrier and crossed the rating of 2500 Fide I came very fast to my highest rating so far in my chess career (Fide rating 2594, October 2016). After my peak rating, college kicked in and I managed to lose about 100 points in a year! (I played only 4-5 tournaments but still managed to lose 100 points in those tournaments :D). Once I’ve finished college, I started playing better and improved my rating very fast in a short time period. My live rating now is 2588(November 2019), which is one good tournament away from my peak and also the 2600 Fide rating barrier. I hope that I will be able to cross that number soon and continue my progress to the TOP 100 players in the world!

Teaching methodology
Opening Preparation
Middle Game Analyzis
Endgame Techniques
Strategy in Chess
Tactics in Chess

A complete opening repertoire for White and Black (Depending from student to student, teaching different openings to different chess styles)

For every opening there are middlegame ideas that are a guidance how to play and what to look for in a game. Weak squares, weak pawns, outposts for pieces etc.

Teaching important endgame positions that have to be known in order to know how to defend a worse position or how to win a better position.

Analyzes of recent chess games and pointing out the mistakes that have to be fixed

Positional and tactical problems during classes (also for homework sometimes)

Chess Psychology

Playing games against other people online and commentating while playing. Helps figuring out the mistakes that were made in students thinking process.