Chess in Iran – the Premier League

Chess in Iran – the Premier League

A report by FM Arash Akbarinia

The Iranian Premier League is a double round robin tournament and takes place in different cities of Iran through the year. Before we start we would like to mention that the Iranian calendar is slightly different to the Gregorian calendar used in the West. The Iranian Calendar is an astronomical solar calendar, which starts at the beginning of spring and finishes at the end of winter. Friday is the sole weekend, and the other six days are working days. This year is 1387 (= 2008-2009). Ten clubs, with teams consisting of six players (including two reserves) participated in the “Thinkers Cup”, another name of the Iranian Premier Chess League.

In memoriam

The first round of the Iranian Premier League started on Thursday June 12th on the building of the Iranian Chess Federation. Before the arbiters started the clocks there was a minute's silence in honour of Grandmaster Karen Asrian’s memory. He passed away very suddenly and tragically just a few days ago. Asrian was supposed to play on the Fajr-e-Shams-e-Atieh club team in this tournament, but very unfortunately that was not to be.

A great guy like Karen is loved everywhere! His photo in the playing hall.

I was reading a poem, but do not who is the poet, and think it suits Karen.

Karen played in the Iranian League Cup just a few months ago. He also trained the Iran National Team for some period of time.

Last March, Karen won the Iranian League Cup with the ”Fajr-e-Shams-e-Atieh” club. From right to left: GM Elshan Moradi, GM Karen Asrian from Armenia, GM Levon Pantsulaia from Georgia, Mr. Ghaffarian, director of club, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, GM Morteza Mahjoob, Mr. Alireza Amani, supervisor of the club.

GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, the leading chess player in Iran, gave a speech before the start of the tournament. He sorrowfully announced the passing of his good friend GM Karen Asrian, one of leading chess players of Armenia, and on behalf of the Iranian Chess Community expressed his sincere condolences to Karen’s family, friends and the entire World Chess Community.

Iranian Premier League

This league enjoys the participation of sixty players, fifty-six of them holders of international ratings, including five GMs, which will be raised to eight in the next round, four IMs and nine FMs. So let’s take a brief look at the results of the first round.

Fajr-e-Shams-e-Atieh, a financial institute, the favorite to win the tournament, crushed Mazandaran, a beautiful and green province on the south coast of the Caspian Sea, quite easily.

GM Elshan Moradi 2499 (Fajr-e-Shams-e-Atieh) won his game against Hossein Lameie, 2154, (Mazandaran), a famous rap singer in Iran! This semester, Elshan will graduate from the Chemistry School of Sharif University of Technology, the best known university of Iran.

Rahahan, the Iranian railway company, defender of the championship title, beat Esfahan 3-1. Esfahan is a province located south of the capital Tehran, and because of its many famous historical places, there is a proverb in Persian “Esfahan nesf-e-jahan” which means "Esfahan is half of the world".

Eighteen-year-old FM Homayoun Tofighi, 2426, Rahahan, beat Rasool Abbasi, 2201, Esfahan. Homayoun is champion of Iran in the junior section and plays blitz and bullet very well. He is one of top ranked players on Playchess, with the ID Lilipo0o0o0t.

Daneshgah-e-Azad, Azad University, defeated Gilan, a province that lies along the Caspian Sea, 2.5-1.5. If students of Daneshgah-e-Azad want to stay in the championship race, they must win more convincingly.

GM Amir Bagheri 2496 (Daneshgah-e-Azad) spoiled his completely winning position with a draw against FM Amir Mohammad Soozankar 2221 (Gilan). Amir gave an interview to state television before the opening ceremony. He has gained experience by playing in European leagues.

In the other games, Hamedan province played versus its neighborhood province Markazi and narrowly won 2.5-1.5.

Member of Markazi Club, waiting for their opponents. From right: Mohammad Reza Pooreraghian (1742), Mohammad Hassan Shamsi (2002), Mehdi Atabaki (2054) and Mohammad Hossein Shamsi (2184).

And finally, Bank-e-Tosse-e-Saderat, vice champion of the Iran League Cup, won 2.5-1.5 against Mohandesi-e-Ab-e-Zanjan. Sitting in a valley of the Zagros Mountains, Zanjan is a province in the northwest of Iran. In this region people speak mainly Azeri.

Emadeddin Mousavi (Mohandesi-e-Ab-e-Zanjan) takes a short nap after his game!

Second round

The second round of Iranian Premier League also took place this week, on Friday June 13th (the third and fourth rounds will be held in Sari, the capital city of Mazandaran, a province in the northern part of Iran). Because of taking pictures in the first round I lost my game. What an excuse! So in the second round I did not take any pictures, and it worked, I won my game. So let’s take an unillustrated look at the second round results.

Ranking table after the second round

Unfortunately the games are not available.