20th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament

20th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament

The Chess Association of Azerbaijan-Sharghi province on behalf of the Iran Chess Federation has the honor to invite all players from national federations to participate in the 20th Fajr International Chess Open Tournament, which will be held in Tabriz, northwestern of Iran, from January 11 to 20, 2012.

The tournament will be played in 11 rounds using the Swiss System. The time control will be 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The tournament will be FIDE rated.

The prize fund amounts to $30,000. The winner takes $8,000.

Tournament director is Farid Ahmadinia Hossein. Chief-Arbiter is IA Pahlevanzadeh Mehrdad.

Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quru River and Aji River, it was the residence of the crown prince under the Qajar dynasty.

The Bazaar of Tabriz is one of the oldest bazaars of the Middle East and the largest covered bazaar in the world. It was inscribed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2010.

Participants list (top seeds):

1 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2651
2 GM Kurnosov Igor RUS 2648
3 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2633
4 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2631
5 GM Kuzubov Yuriy UKR 2616
6 GM Rakhmanov Aleksandr RUS 2593
7 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan IRI 2570
8 GM Evdokimov Alexander A RUS 2569
9 GM Gopal G N IND 2566
10 GM Gagunashvili Merab GEO 2560
11 GM Ibrahimov Rasul AZE 2550
12 GM Neverov Valeriy UKR 2541
13 GM Rasulov Vugar AZE 2537
14 GM Kotanjian Tigran ARM 2533
15 GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2524
16 GM Malaniuk Vladimir P UKR 2512
17 GM Golizadeh Asghar IRI 2464
18 IM Nigalidze Gaioz GEO 2460
19 IM Darini Pouria IRI 2458
20 GM Toufighi Homayoon IRI 2444