Surprises in Nakhchivan

The Nakhchivan Open is being held at the Nakhchivan Chess Center in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. The nine-round swiss has a first prize of $10,000 and has attracted some strong players. The tournament is reserved for players over 2250 (2150 for women).

Nakhchivan is is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,500 km2 with a population of 410,000, bordering Armenia (length of frontier 221 km) to the east and north, Iran (179 km) to the south and west, and Turkey (only 15 km) to the northwest. It is a zone that has been in conflict since time immemorial, seeing wars waged on its soli by Ancient Armenia, Ancient Greece, Byzantium, Persia, Seljuk Turks and many more historical powers. Nowadays it is an exclave of Azerbaijan. The current president of Azerbaijan was born in the Nakhchivan region, though Nakhchivan does not border Azerbaijan.

Nakhchivan Open

With the severe prize drop-off (fourth place is already only $2000, 10th $700) and the difficulties of traveling to Nakhchivan, it seems as if the tournament was not quite as strong as one would expect. However some big names showed up, including Rustam Kasimzdhanov and Hou Yifan, playing in her first rated event since Mariya Muzychuk took the World Championship title in Sochi earlier this year.

The top 20 players in the tournament:

There have been many surprises in the tournament. The early leader was Levan Pantsulaia who started with a dashing 5.0/5, but he was stopped when Eltaj Safarli beat him in the sixth round. With all draws on the seventh round of the event, Pantsulaia and Safarli keep their lead, now tied with Pouya Idani from Iran. These are the current standings:

Just from looking at these standings some questions can be asked:

• Why is the top seed in 15th place?
• Why is Hou Yifan in 16th?
• Where are Mamedov and Onischuk?
• Who is Irakli Beradze?

Rustam Kasimdzhanov started with a weak start, two draws against very low rated players. His further two draws in rounds four and six put him at only 4.5/7 and losing 12.0 rating points.

Meanwhile Hou Yifan's tournament is no better. She lost to both Mammadov Zaur and Mammadov Ayaz... and both with the white pieces! She recovered with a win against Vahap Sanal but she is in bad shape.

Rauf Mamedov recently played the Gashimov Memorial, where he had a decent showing, but in Nakhchivan he only has 4.0/7. Meanwhile the young winner of the Metz Open, Vladimir Onischuk, has the same amount of points and is also dropping around 12 rating.

Meanwhile the young Irakli Beradze is on an absolute rampage. This 18 year old Georgian player is winning an impressive 70 rating points and has defeated several grandmasters, despite the fact that in his last two tournament showins he dropped around 40 points total.

Vladimir Baklan drew Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Hou Yifan won today, but she will need two more wins in a row to finish on a half-decent note.

Nino Khomeriki (left) won this game and is winning 65 rating points

Vadim Malakhtko against Zaur Mammadov

The Nakhchivan chess center

with giant pieces, of course

There are many side events as well

a lower rated section

and one for kids

Security seems mandatory nowadays in tournaments, sadly

Abhijeet Gupta vs. Ulvi Bajanari under the gaze of former Azerbaijani president Haydar Aliev. His son, Ilham, succeeded him.

World traveler Sergei Tiviakov on the right

The top board match between Guseinov and Safarli ended in a draw

The tournament will have two more rounds and the race for first is heating up.

Replay games so far

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Official tournament site Download all Open games The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.