International chess tournament in Fajr, Iran

Sixteenth International Fajr Men's Chess Tournament

Report by FM Arash Akbarinia

It was twenty-nine years ago that the Iranian Revolution took place, the Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi fled to Cairo and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to the power. Annually, at the anniversary of this revolution, which has been called "the third great revolution in history" following the French and Bolshevik revolutions, many cultural and sport Festivals are held in Iran. This year among all, there was a Chess Festival divided in two sections, the Sixteenth International Fajr Men Chess Tournament and the First International Women Fajr Chess Tournament, which took place in Urmia, 907 km from the capital Tehran.

The name Urmia is thought by some to have come from Syriac, the language of the city's Assyrian founders: Ur, meaning "cradle," and mia, meaning "water." Hence, Urmia, situated by a lake and surrounded by rivers, would be the cradle of water. The official name in Persian is "Orumiyeh"

The Sixteenth International Fajr Men Chess Tournament included 247 players from 14 countries, included seven grandmasters and 16 IMs. They competed in an eleven-round Swiss tournament, with the Fide Standard Time Control (90 Minutes+30 seconds per move).

After eleven rounds and all the problems and disorganizations that turned up in tournament, which even the state television admitted to them, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, the Iranian top ranked player, emerged as the winner, quite convincing with 9.5 points. He received a prize of US $3,500.

GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 2589, champion of last and this year Fajr Tournament.

IM Avetik Grigoryan, the nineteenth-years-old Armenian took the second place and 3000 USD with 9 points and also a GM Norm. Third place went to the Georgia, IM Davit Magalashvili 8.5 points, thanks to his better tie-break, but the prize fund was shared between 5 players.

IM Avetik Grigoryan, 2509, really deserved the GM Norm that he achieved. In the last round he beat FM Mohsen Sharbaf, 2407, from Iran (right).

The Bronze Medalist IM Davit Magalashvili 2449

Final rankings after 11 rounds

• All games in PGN (140 KB) or zipped PGN (34 KB)

GM Levan Pantsulaia 2629 from Georgia, the tap ranked at the start of the tournament. He was not in good form, losing to a host player at the second round, whose rating was 2140, Pantsulaia took the sixth place with 8.5 points.

Georgian GM Konstantine Shanava, 2521, playing with his rings during the game! He took the fourth place.

 
Friends: IA Azaad Belal from Iraq with the Deputy Manager and Iranian IA Hamid Reza Pourshahmari, the Chief Arbiter of men section

Blind player Mehdi Roomifard, who surprised everyone with his good results, even beating some of the international rating holders.

 
Twenty-two-year old FM Hamed Mousavian 2349, student of Physical Education, won his first GM Norm, in the round nine.

In the women section, which started one day later and finished one day earlier, 70 chess players from five countries, included one WGM, one IM and eight WIMs, fought for the top prize, US $1,500, in a nine-round Swiss tournament. In the end, after nine rounds, four players, two from Georgia and two from Armenia, shared first place, with seven points. In the tie-break, WIM Nino Batsiashvili from Georgia took Gold. Her fellow-countrywoman WIM Sopiko Tereladze became the vice-champion.

The Champion: WIM Nino Batsiashvili 2317 from Georgia.

If Nino was Iranian or Muslim, I would have thought she was religious, because she did not let a single strand of hair come out of her headscarf. I think the Hijab was the biggest problem for our ladies guests.

 
Silver Medalist Georgian WIM Sopiko Tereladze, 2195

WIM Lilit Galojan from Armenia took the third place. WIM Siranush Andriasian, also from Armenia, was pretty unlucky and went to the fourth place, due to her unfortunate Buchholz tiebreak.

WIM Lilit Galojan 2307 from Armenia with her Bronze Medal, and Armenian WIM Siranush Andriasian, 2228, who looks great even with a Hijab! Her prize was the same as the Champion, she just did not take a medal. But I do not think that really bothers her.

Women final ranking after nine rounds

WIM Atousa Pourkashiyan, 2282, took seventh place, which was the best result of an Iranian girl. After the closing ceremony she gave an interview to the News Channel.

P. Jayalazmi, 2037, Tejaswini Reddy, 1967 and Chandana Priya Reddy, 1944, were the three Indian players in the First Fajr Women Tournament. I talked to Priya, and she told me that she liked Tehran much more than Urmia.

IM Sopiko Khukhashvili, 2387, and WIM Inga Charkhalashvili, 2369. Sophie was the top rank at the start of the tournament, but she was not in a good mood and finished unexpectedly with 5.5 points. Inga, who during the whole tournament was thinking about her five-years-old daughter, took the sixth place with 6.5 points.

Unfortunately, due to the very intensive tournament schedule, two rounds at most of the days, our guests did not have chance to take a short trip to the beautiful sights of Province West Azerbaijan. Personally as an Iranian, I think that was a big shame. So, let’s look at just a few of these tourists’ attractions.

Qara Kelissa, Chaldoran, believed by some to have been first built in AD 66 by Saint Jude. Local Armenians believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed in its present form after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319.

 
Salt crystals, on the shore of Lake Urmia (ancient name: Lake Matiene)

 
Lake Urmia is a salt lake, the largest inside Iran

A small island in Lake Urmia

The lake is marked by more than a hundred small rocky islands, which are stopover points in the migrations of various kinds of wild bird life. The second largest island, Kaboudi, is the burial place of Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the sacker of Baghdad, where he had his treasury.

Urmia is the traditional birthplace of the Persian religious teacher Zoroaster

Zoroaster is portrayed above in a popular Parsi Zoroastrian depiction. This image emerged in the eighteenth century, the result of an Indian Parsi Zoroastrian artist’s imagination under European influence. It quickly became a popular icon, and is now regarded by many Indian Zoroastrians as being historically based

The Parthian Fire Temple Takht-i-Suleiman, Takab

Yours truly, FM Arash Akbarinia, 2300, who also won an IM norm