The 19th Fajr Open took place from 26th February – 7th March 2011 in
Mashhad, Iran. There were no rest days, and two rounds played on Feb. 26 and
Mar. 4, with the first game starting at 09:00 a.m., as did the single game in
the final round on March 7. Amongst the participants were 25 GMs, 15 IMs and
10 FMs. Nine GMs were rated 2600+.
Sergey Tiviakov, who played there very successfully and won the event, has
been kind enough to provide us with many pictures of both the event and sight-seeing.
Unfortunately, no games have surfaced from the event.
Photo gallery by Sergey Tiviakov
On the day of round five, the players found time to do a little sight-seeing
and took
the metro to their destination.
Westerners who have not visited Iran might not realize that there
even is a modern metro system there.
Your photographer and reporter, GM Sergey Tiviakov
One chosen spot was the tomb of Nader
Shah, whose campaigns created a great empire that briefly encompassed what
is now Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of the Caucasus region, parts
of Central Asia, and Oman.
After the dust had settled on the intense eleven round tournament, no fewer
than eight players stood at 8.5/11 and a further eight at 8.0/11. By virtue
of tiebreak, in first place was GM Sergey Tiviakov, second was GM Evgeny Gleizerov,
and third was IM Davit Benidze.
The officials before the distribution of trophies
Hadi Karimi, General Secretary of the Iranian Chess Federation
The top three prize winners Gleizerov (2nd), Tiviakov (1st) and Benidze
(3rd)
The tomb of Hadassa, the heroine of the Biblical "Book of Esther"
The Tomb of Esther and Mardecai, visited by Jewish pilgrims from all over the
world, is located in Hamadan, Iran. It is a simple brick dome there and contains
two graves with...
...exquisite wooden tomb-boxes with inscription in Hebrew
Hebrew inscription are to be found on the plaster work of the wall
The Avicenna Mausoleum in Hamadan, Iran
A visit to the Alisadr Water Cave (click to enlarge) located about
75 kilometers north of Hamadan and is the world's largest water cave.
Since the cave is filled with water the tour is undertaken by boat
The mineral formations in the cave are world famous and truly spectacular
Close-up of the formations in the cave, which was formed
130-190 million years ago, in the second Jurassic period
The grandmaster in Alisadr. Anyone you had recently seen the movie Sanctum
would never, never, ever, go into this cave. Sergey has not.
Back in Fajr the players were then given the opportunity to spend their
winnings on
some rare Iranian minerals. This one cost USD $300.
Here is another one priced at USD $400
For USD $500 this one is yours
And for USD $1000, a steal, you can buy this.
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