International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open
The International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open 2012, dedicated to the memory of Heydar Aliyev, is taking place from 28th to 6th May at the Nakhchivan Chess Center in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.
The Festival is organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry, Azerbaijan Chess Federation, Nakhchivan AR Chess Federation and SOCAR.
Last year the winner was GM Anton Korobov from Ukraine.
The players will be seeded in Tournament A if rated above 2250 FIDE (For Women above 2100 FIDE), while the lower rated players will compete in Tournament B. Both groups will be played over nine rounds of Swiss system.
Top prizes in the Tournament A are: 6000$ + cup/ 4000$/ 3000$/ 2000$/ 1500$/ 1200$/ 1100$/ 1100$/ 1000$/ 1000$ etc. There are 30 regular and many special prizes.
Official website www.chess.az
Players list (top seeds):
1 GM Grachev Boris RUS 2705
2 GM Tiviakov Sergei NED 2673
3 GM Khalifman Alexander RUS 2649
4 GM Zhigalko Sergei BLR 2649
5 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2645
6 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 2644
7 GM Filippov Anton UZB 2637
8 GM Mamedov Rauf AZE 2624
9 GM Volkov Sergey RUS 2623
10 GM Guseinov Gadir AZE 2616
11 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej BLR 2604
12 GM Shanava Konstantine GEO 2586
13 GM Mirzoev Azer AZE 2560
14 GM Esen Baris TUR 2555
15 GM Durarbayli Vasif AZE 2543
16 GM Rasulov Vugar AZE 2526
17 GM Guliev Sarhan AZE 2498
18 IM Azaladze Shota GEO 2419
19 Javakhadze Zurab GEO 2418
Good tournament.