The 12th Khazar International Open Chess Tournament was held on 11-18th February at the the Yadegar Imam Sport Complex in Rasht, Iran. The tournament was organized by Mr Kiumars Bayat and the Guilan Chess Association.
Report by FA/WFM Shohreh Bayat
There were over 500 players from sixteen countries, namely Iran (host), Uzbekistan, Netherlands, Germany, Georgia, Armenia, Libya, France, Russia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Turkey, India, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Turkmenistan, participating in four sections:
A (for players rated above 2100), B (for players rated under 2100), C (women’s tournament), and D for youth under 14.
Among them were present eight Grand Masters (GM), ten International Masters (IM) and Women Grand Masters (WGM), 12 Fide Masters (FM) and Women Fide Masters (WFM).
After 9 rounds of play in the main A tournament GM Azer Mirzoev (2540) from Azerbaijan and GM Sipke Ernst from Netherlands (2575) shared the first place with 8 points each. Azer Mirzoev was declared winner on best tie-break.
The local hero, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2547) came third with 7/9.
Kiumars Bayat, the organizer of the competition, and the President of the Guilan Chess Association
Top players in A Group – GM Azer Mirzoev, GM Sipke Ernst, GM Ehsan GhaemMaghami, GM Vasily Papin
Top players in Women’s Group
Top players in B group – Farhad Samsam, Reza Roozbayan, Behtash Salimifard
U6 top players in D group – Reza Mahdavi, Hirad Saberi, Koroosh Mehboudi
U8 top players in D group – Artin Baghdar, Abolfazl Sowti, Bardia Daneshvar
U14 top players in D group – Abolfazl Kazemian, Arian Yousefikia and Alireza Hosseini
The Symbols of the Tournament