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The Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival was held from August 12th
to 21st 2006.
Abu Dhabi (Arabic أبو
ظبي, literally "Father of Gazelle")
is the largest of the seven United Arab Emirates, with a population is
about one million.
The head of the chess federation, Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nehyan,
was recently elected President of the Asian Chess Federation. His appointee
as Treasurer, appointed Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran, sent us this information
on the Festival.
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In the main section, the Masters Tournament, we counted 20 GMs, 13 IMs and
two WGMs. The prizes were: 1st US $4000, 2nd $3000, 3rd $2000, 4th $1500, 5th
$1000, 6th to 15th $900-200. The final standings (5.5 points or more) was as
follows:
Rk. |
Title |
Name |
Rtg |
FED |
Pts. |
TB1 |
TB2 |
1 |
GM |
Gashimov Vugar |
2644 |
AZE |
6,5 |
51,5 |
40,0 |
2 |
GM |
Anastasian Ashot |
2566 |
ARM |
6,5 |
49,0 |
38,5 |
3 |
GM |
Potkin Vladimir |
2556 |
RUS |
6,0 |
50,0 |
39,0 |
4 |
GM |
Miroshnichenko Evgenij |
2616 |
UKR |
6,0 |
47,5 |
38,0 |
5 |
GM |
Kengis Edvins |
2539 |
LAT |
6,0 |
47,5 |
38,0 |
6 |
GM |
Grigoriants Sergey |
2579 |
RUS |
6,0 |
47,5 |
37,0 |
7 |
GM |
Goloshchapov Alexander |
2558 |
UKR |
6,0 |
47,0 |
37,0 |
8 |
GM |
Azarov Sergei |
2579 |
BLR |
6,0 |
44,5 |
35,0 |
9 |
GM |
GhaemMaghami Ehsan |
2594 |
IRI |
6,0 |
42,5 |
33,0 |
10 |
GM |
Neverov Valeriy |
2556 |
UKR |
6,0 |
42,5 |
32,5 |
11 |
GM |
Mamedov Rauf |
2561 |
AZE |
5,5 |
50,0 |
39,5 |
12 |
GM |
Ibrahimov Rasul |
2528 |
AZE |
5,5 |
49,5 |
39,0 |
13 |
GM |
Fedorov Alexei |
2617 |
BLR |
5,5 |
48,5 |
38,5 |
14 |
IM |
Abbasov Farid |
2443 |
AZE |
5,5 |
48,0 |
38,0 |
15 |
GM |
Sturua Zurab |
2509 |
GEO |
5,5 |
46,5 |
37,0 |
16 |
GM |
Rausis Igors |
2510 |
BAN |
5,5 |
46,5 |
37,0 |
17 |
IM |
Allahverdiev Anar |
2435 |
AZE |
5,5 |
45,5 |
35,5 |
18 |
IM |
Amin Bassem |
2453 |
EGY |
5,5 |
43,5 |
35,0 |
19 |
WGM |
Ushenina Anna |
2410 |
UKR |
5,5 |
42,5 |
34,0 |
20 |
FM |
Alavi Sayed Javad |
2314 |
IRI |
5,5 |
41,0 |
32,0 |
Picture gallery

The city skyline of Abu Dhabi

The beach front with the Abu Dhabi Intercontinental Hotel

The spectacular playing venue

The winner, GM Vugar Gashimov, 2644, of Azerbaijan

Beaten on tiebreak: co-winner Ashot Anastasian, 2566, Armenia

GM Vladimir Potkin, 2556, RUS, second of Levon Aronian

GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko, 2616, UKR

IM Maia Lomineishvili, 2380, Georgia

WIM Atousa Pourkshiyan, 2298, Iran, made her first WGM norm

WIM Shayesteh Ghader Pour, 2152, Iran

Players in action at the 2006 Chess festival

Some of the foreign women participants

Sitting down for a delicious Arabic meal

An artisan at work

The artisan's wife

Making new friends in the Arab desert

Our friend Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh of Iran, who provided the information
for this report