Evgeniy Najer wins President's Cup in Baku

by ChessBase
5/21/2008 – The ninth seed finished in undivided first place, with 7.5/9 points, to win the $7000 prize. Evgeniy Najer was followed by eight GMs with 7.0 points each. We bring you the final standings and games, and lots of great pictures by Farid Khayrulin. Twelve were originally of unidentified players, but within hours our readers provided their names. Spectacular pictorial report.

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The Third President's Cup is took place from May 11th to 21st 2008 in Baku, Azerbaijan. There were 180 participants in the Open Tournament, and the prize fund is US $85,000. There was also a Children's U-14 and a Seniors Tournament.


The winner, with 7.5/9 (six wins): GM Evgeniy Najer or Russia

Final standings (after nine rounds) of the Open – top players with 6.0/9 or higher

Rnk Seed Title Player Elo Nat. Pts  BH1 BH2 BH3
wins
1 9 GM Najer Evgeniy 2627 RUS 7.5 53.0 50.0 45.5
6
2 28 GM Abbasov Farid 2528 AZE 7.0 54.5 51.0 46.0
5
3 10 GM Guseinov Gadir 2625 AZE 7.0 54.5 50.0 45.0
6
4 13 GM Lastin Alexander 2622 RUS 7.0 54.5 50.0 45.0
5
5 1 GM Milov Vadim 2690 SUI 7.0 53.0 49.0 43.5
6
6 19 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej 2582 BLR 7.0 53.0 48.5 44.0
5
7 12 GM Gelashvili Tamaz 2622 GEO 7.0 52.5 48.5 43.5
5
8 5 GM Jobava Baadur 2658 GEO 7.0 52.5 47.5 42.5
5
9 4 GM Short Nigel D 2660 ENG 7.0 51.5 46.5 41.5
5
10 23 GM Dzhumaev Marat 2557 UZB 6.5 54.5 50.0 44.5
6
11 7 GM Fridman Daniel 2640 GER 6.5 51.5 47.5 42.5
5
12 2 GM Sokolov Ivan 2690 NED 6.5 51.5 47.0 42.0
5
13 11 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2624 GER 6.5 51.0 47.0 41.5
6
14 21 GM Timman Jan H 2565 NED 6.5 48.5 45.0 41.5
5
15 15 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2617 KAZ 6.5 48.5 45.0 40.0
4
16 24 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2538 BUL 6.5 48.0 45.0 40.5
6
17 51 FM Agaragimov Djakhangir 2343 AZE 6.5 42.0 39.5 36.0
5
18 18 GM Korchnoi Viktor 2598 SUI 6.0 53.0 49.0 44.0
5
19 14 GM Malakhatko Vadim 2621 BEL 6.0 53.0 49.0 44.0
4
20 29 GM Safarli Eltaj 2524 AZE 6.0 52.0 48.0 43.0
4
21 8 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil 2635 GEO 6.0 51.5 47.5 42.5
3
22 47 IM Durarbeyli Vasif 2384 AZE 6.0 51.0 47.0 43.0
5
23 16 GM Mamedov Rauf 2617 AZE 6.0 51.0 46.5 42.0
4
24 6 GM Beliavsky Alexander 2641 SLO 6.0 50.5 46.0 41.5
5
25 32 GM Guliev Sarhan 2487 AZE 6.0 49.0 45.5 41.5
5
26 31 IM Sulashvili Malkhaz 2491 GEO 6.0 49.0 45.5 41.5
4
27 35 IM Sanikidze Tornike 2458 GEO 6.0 49.0 45.5 41.0
5
28 37 IM Esen Baris 2451 TUR 6.0 49.0 45.0 40.5
5
29 36   Nigalidze Gaioz 2455 GEO 6.0 48.0 45.0 41.0
5
30 33 GM Babaev Rashad 2482 AZE 6.0 48.0 43.5 39.0
5
31 25 GM Ibrahimov Rasul 2535 AZE 6.0 46.5 43.0 38.5
5
32 72   Rzayev Bahruz 2225 AZE 6.0 45.5 43.0 38.5
5
33 22 GM Savchenko Stanislav 2560 UKR 6.0 45.5 42.0 38.0
4
34 57   Bayramov Vugar 2306 AZE 6.0 45.0 42.5 38.5
6
35 3 GM Van Wely Loek 2677 NED 6.0 44.0 40.5 37.0
5
36 53   Mammadov Ayaz 2333 AZE 6.0 43.5 40.0 36.0
6

Photo gallery by Farid Khayrulin

The President's Cup in Baku was extraordinarily well photographed, this year as in every year, by Farid Khayrulin of "FGF Digital STUDIO". You will find hundreds of great shots here. The pages are well worth a visit, especially if you are fond of children and inspired by the sight of them brooding over a chessboard.

Unfortunately none of Farid's photos are captioned, so that you either know the players or just enjoy the anonymous images. We have selected some we could identify and a series of lovely portraits we couldn't. The latter at at the end of the gallery and we ask our readers to supply the names of these unidentified players. Please use the feedback link on the left of this page, and give "Unidentified players" as the subject line.


GM Antoaneta Stefanova, 2538, BUL, 6.0 points, gets $600 for her 16th place


Viktor Korchnoi finished 18th with 6.0 points and got a nice carpet as a special prize


Korchnoi's wife Petra, one of our favourite people, got roses


A Bulgarian rose with an Azeri rose, one is tempted to say (Antoaneta Stefanova)


Top seed Milov Vadim, 2690, SUI, finished 5th with 7.0


Eighth: GM Jobava Baadur, 2658, GEO, with 7.0 points


Alexander Beliavsky, 2641, SLO, finished 24th with 6.0 points


Third seed Loek van Wely, 2677, NED, came 35th with 6.0 points


Viktor Lvovich, still going strong at 77


Little sister: WGM Turkan Mamedjarova, 2271, AZE, 5.0 points

The rest of the pictures are of currently unidentified players. We rely on our readers to supply the correct names (using the feedback button on the left). How long will it take to fill in all the names? We will keep updating the captions as the information trickles in.

Six hours after publication all but one player, no. 11, had been identified. One day later we have him as well. Special thanks to Rustam Najafov of Baku, Azerbaijan, who identified the most difficult ones, and to Nigel Short, who provided the name of the sister of the deputy arbiter.


1: WIM Ana Gavasheli, 2191, GEO, 5.0/9, 74th place


2: Ulkar Umudova, a deputy arbiter at the chess festival.
Her younger sister, Nargiz, was playing in the tournament.


3: IM Anna Zozulia, 2332, BEL, 5.0/9, 57th


4: GM Alexander Lastin, 2622, RUS, 7.0/9 came 4th
(Memo: find out if praying is legal during a game)


Unidentified player – no, no, hang on, it's what's-his-face! Nigel Short.


5: WGM Bela Khotenashvili, 2333, GEO, 5.0/9, 56th


6: GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev, 2617, KAZ, 6.5/9, 15th place


7: GM Vadim Malakhatko, 2621, BEL, 6.0/9, 19th place


8: GM Rauf Mamedov, 2617, AZE, 6.0, 23rd place


9: Mushfig Askerov, 2154, AZE, 5.5/9, 45th. Mushfig? Yep, Mushfig.


10: Aytaj Ismailova, 2129, AZE, 5.0 points, 75th


11: Gulamhuseyn Abdulov, 1986, AZE 4.0 points, 110th


12: GM Sarhan Guliev, 2487, AZE, 6./90, 25th place

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