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The II International President’s Cup devoted to Azerbaijan’s prominent politician and late President Heydar Aliyev is taking place from 2nd May to 12th May 2007 in Baku. The tournament, which has $50,000 guaranteed prize fund and gifts for winners, includes three sections: the Children’s Section, with age limit 14 years old, the Open Tournament and the Veteran Players’ Section with players over 60 years old.
In the Open Tournament, the winner of the first place will get $5,000 and the second place $4,000. Last year 20 foreign players took part at the I International President’s Cup, this year it is 53 players from 16 countries. Of the 147 participants in the Open Tournament, 12 rated 2600 or higher. Among them are Nigel Short, Vadim Milov, Loek van Wely, Arkadij Naiditsch, etc. Of the local GMs we have Gadir Guseinov, Rauf Mamedov and Nidjat Mamedov playing at the tournament. GMs Teimour Radjabov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are not participating, since they are playing in Sochi and Sofia respectively.
Leading in Baku: GM Vadim Milov
After six rounds of play second seed Vadim Milov, who currently lives in Switzerland, is in the sole lead with 5.5 points. He is followed by four grandmasters with 5.0 points each. Top seed Nigel Short is in the next group, having mysteriously dropped a full point in a completely won position against WGM and IM Anna Zozulia, rated 2344. Since the game ends in Anna's victory on move 49 we assume that Nigel's attention was distracted and he lost on time. [Nigel informs us that he actually won the the game against Anna Zozulia – there was an error in the bulletin, one we have now corrected in our PGN file.]
| Rnk | Sd | Title | Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Milov, Vadim | SUI | 2675 | 5.5 |
| 2 | 20 | GM | Zubarev, Alexander | UKR | 2511 | 5.0 |
| 3 | 7 | GM | Fedorov, Alexei | BLR | 2611 | 5.0 |
| 4.0 | 12 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | AZE | 2584 | 5.0 |
| 5 | 14 | GM | Mamedov, Nidjat | AZE | 2547 | 5.0 |
| 6 | 9 | GM | Malakhatko, Vadim | BEL | 2598 | 4.5 |
| 7 | 11 | GM | Guseinov, Gadir | AZE | 2586 | 4.5 |
| 8 | 3 | GM | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2674 | 4.5 |
| 9 | 5 | GM | Sadvakasov, Darmen | KAZ | 2618 | 4.5 |
| 10 | 1 | GM | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2691 | 4.5 |
| 11 | 8 | GM | Gelashvili, Tamaz | GEO | 2605 | 4.5 |
| 12 | 15 | GM | Savchenko, Stanislav | UKR | 2545 | 4.5 |
| 13 | 17 | GM | Shengelia, Davit | GEO | 2523 | 4.5 |
| 14 | 32 | IM | Sanikidze, Tornike | GEO | 2426 | 4.5 |
| 15 | 16 | GM | Shanava, Konstantine | GEO | 2532 | 4.5 |
| 16 | 6 | GM | Balogh, Csaba | HUN | 2617 | 4.5 |
| 17 | 22 | IM | Abbasov, Farid | AZE | 2509 | 4.5 |
| 18 | 10 | GM | Burmakin, Vladimir | RUS | 2593 | 4.5 |
| 19 | 56 | - | Lomsadze, Davit | GEO | 2268 | 4.5 |
| 20 | 4.0 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2654 | 4.5 |
| 21 | 31 | GM | Andreev, Eduard | UKR | 2433 | 4.0 |
| 22 | 34 | - | Morchiashvili, Bachana | GEO | 2396 | 4.0 |
| 23 | 47 | WGM | Velikhanli, Firuza | AZE | 2310 | 4.0 |
| 24 | 13 | GM | Rustemov, Alexander | RUS | 2557 | 4.0 |
| 25 | 19 | GM | Zinchenko, Yaroslav | UKR | 2513 | 4.0 |
| 26 | 51 | WIM | Khotenashvili, Bela | GEO | 2301 | 4.0 |
| 27 | 55 | - | Rasulov, Vugar | AZE | 2271 | 4.0 |
| 28 | 38 | WGM | Mamedjarova, Zeinab | AZE | 2354 | 4.0 |
| 29 | 18 | GM | Miezis, Normunds | LAT | 2521 | 4.0 |
| 30 | 42 | WGM | Zozulia, Anna | BEL | 2344 | 4.0 |
| 31 | 24 | IM | Gasanov, Eldar | UKR | 2486 | 4.0 |
| 32 | 25 | IM | Magalashvili, Davit | GEO | 2474 | 4.0 |
| 33 | 45 | - | Davidov, Samir | AZE | 2326 | 4.0 |
| 34 | 50 | FM | Bregadze, Levan | GEO | 2302 | 4.0 |
| 35 | 26 | IM | Guliev, Logman | AZE | 2466 | 4.0 |
| 36 | 52 | - | Bayramov, Vugar | AZE | 2298 | 4.0 |
| 37 | 63 | - | Mammadov, Farid | AZE | 2222 | 4.0 |
| 38 | 48 | - | Agayev, Nidjat | AZE | 2306 | 4.0 |
| 39 | 30 | IM | Dovliatov, Sanan | AZE | 2438 | 4.0 |
| 40 | 60 | - | Hasanov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2247 | 4.0 |
Click to download all games available in PGN
The Hotel Absheron in Baku, where many of the players stay
Musicians at the opening of the "Prezident Kuboku" – the President's
Cup
And a group of Azeri singers doing their bit
The participants and visitors stand for the National Anthem
The tournament hall just before the start of a round
Round three game Nigel Short vs Levan Aroshidze, 2500 (Short won)
Germany's top GM Arkadij Naiditsch
The Mamedyarovs – Zeinab, Shakhriyar and Turkan – are here for
different reasons. The two sisters are playing in the tournament, the brother
supporting them morally before he takes off for the Super-GM
tournament in Sofia.
The official web site has hundreds of tantalizing pictures, some quite good, but with no captions. Links are given below where you can browse the photo pages. But you have to know your way around and use your deductive skills to make sense of the pictures. We'll start you off by revealing that the man in the grey suit in the above picture is top seed Nigel Short at the openings ceremony, drawing white for his first-round game.
One more tip: this is Nigel Short chatting with the Azerbaijan Minister of Youth
and Sport Azad Rahimov. Okay, you are on your own now in this and the following
samples. Good luck!
Nigel Short tells us this is Dana Reizniece from Latvia...
...and this Salome Melia from Georgia, "chatting with some random guy"
Arbiter
Well yes, uncaptioned pictures suck, but you will find a lot of really cute children's portraits on the official site's picture galleies, which makes them well worth visiting.
Information and some of the pictures provided by Zahir Ahmadov
