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The Chess Festival Basel included a Masters tournament, amateur tournaments, youth tournaments, and a blitz tournament. The main attraction was the Masters. This year more than 100 players took part, among them 12 grandmasters and a women grandmaster. After 9 rounds three players shared first place with 7.0/9: the Azeri Eltaj Safarli, Chinese talent Jinshi Bai and Christian Bauer from France.
Bai Jinshi, Eltai Safarli, Christian Bauer
Top seed Safarli had the best tie-break and won the tournament, Jinshi Bai was second, Christian Bauer third. Nijat Abasov, the winner of the Zürich Christmas Open, finished sixth with 6.5/9.
Final standings after 9 rounds | ||||||||||||
| Rank | Name | Title | TWZ | At | Club/City | Country | W | D | L | Pts | TB1 | TB2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Safarli,Eltaj | GM | 2686 | M | AZE | 5 | 4 | 0 | 7.0 | 37.0 | 54.5 | |
| 2. | Bai,Jinshi | GM | 2560 | M | CHN | 5 | 4 | 0 | 7.0 | 36.0 | 53.0 | |
| 3. | Bauer, Christian | GM | 2635 | M | Zürich SG | FRA | 6 | 2 | 1 | 7.0 | 35.0 | 48.5 |
| 4. | Svane,Rasmus | GM | 2560 | M | Hamburger SK vo | GER | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6.5 | 36.5 | 53.5 |
| 5. | Gao,Rui | GM | 2544 | M | CHN | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6.5 | 35.0 | 48.5 | |
| 6. | Abasov,Nijat | GM | 2561 | M | AZE | 4 | 5 | 0 | 6.5 | 34.5 | 50.5 | |
| 7. | Deepan Chakkravar | GM | 2485 | M | IND | 6 | 1 | 2 | 6.5 | 33.0 | 44.5 | |
| 8. | Van Foreest,Jorde | GM | 2612 | M | Schachklub Turm | NED | 6 | 1 | 2 | 6.5 | 31.5 | 50.0 |
| 9. | Donchenko,Alexand | GM | 2559 | M | Schachclub Hans | GER | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 35.5 | 50.0 |
| 10. | Schroeder,Jan-Chr | GM | 2550 | M | SV 1920 Hofheim | GER | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6.0 | 32.5 | 47.0 |
| 11. | Karthikeyan,P | IM | 2488 | M | IND | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 31.5 | 48.5 | |
| 12. | Heimann, Andreas | GM | 2603 | M | Riehen Schachge | GER | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6.0 | 31.5 | 48.5 |
| 13. | Bellahcene, Bilel | IM | 2493 | M | Porrentruy Echi | FRA | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 31.5 | 44.5 |
| 14. | Mesaros,Florian | FM | 2372 | M | SV Wulkaproders | AUT | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6.0 | 28.0 | 41.0 |
| 15. | Pratyusha,Bodda | WIM | 2247 | W | IND | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 23.5 | 39.5 | |
| 16. | Chu,Wei Chao | IM | 2289 | M | CHN | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5.5 | 32.5 | 50.0 | |
| 17. | Kunin,Vitaly | GM | 2576 | M | Freibauer Mörle | GER | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | 31.5 | 46.0 |
| 18. | Korpa,Bence | IM | 2473 | M | Schachclub Hans | HUN | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 31.0 | 47.5 |
| 19. | van Foreest,Lucas | 2356 | M | Schachklub Turm | NED | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 30.0 | 50.5 | |
| 20. | Low,Zhen Yu Cyrus | FM | 2245 | M | SIN | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 30.0 | 48.0 | |
| 21. | Alvarez Marquez,J | IM | 2404 | M | VEN | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 29.5 | 43.0 | |
| 22. | Filipovic, Branko | IM | 2402 | M | Trubschachen | SUI | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 29.0 | 46.5 |
| 23. | Collins,Sam E | IM | 2455 | M | IRL | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 28.5 | 45.0 | |
| 24. | Akshat,Khamparia | IM | 2358 | M | IND | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 28.5 | 44.0 | |
| 25. | Gomes,Mary Ann | WGM | 2299 | W | IND | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | 28.0 | 45.5 | |
| 26. | Bao,Qilin | 2343 | M | CHN | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | 27.5 | 47.0 | ||
| 27. | Antal,Tibor Kende | FM | 2420 | M | HUN | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 27.0 | 46.0 | |
| 27. | Heinz,Timothée | FM | 2346 | M | Riehen Schachge | FRA | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 27.0 | 46.0 |
| 29. | Botta, Gabriele | FM | 2377 | M | Echallens | SUI | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | 25.5 | 37.0 |
| 30. | Tschann,Stephan | 2208 | M | SK 1926 Ettling | GER | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5.5 | 24.0 | 40.0 | |
... 107 players
Tournament winner Eltaj Safarli
With five wins and four draws Safarli played a solid tournament. He started with 4.5/5 and then finished the tournament with three draws and a win against Christian Bauer in round eight.
In round five Safarli scored a surprisingly quick win against the young German Alexander Donchenko after a tactical oversight by his opponent:
Next year, the Chess Festival Basel will take place from 2nd to 7th January 2018.
