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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. |
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 | Gashimov Vugar | 2644 | AZE | ||||
2 | Anastasian Ashot | 2566 | ARM | ||||
3 | Potkin Vladimir | 2556 | RUS | ||||
4 | Miroshnichenko Evgenij | 2616 | UKR | ||||
5 | Kengis Edvins | 2539 | LAT | ||||
6 | Grigoriants Sergey | 2579 | RUS | ||||
7 | Goloshchapov Alexander | 2558 | UKR | ||||
8 | Azarov Sergei | 2579 | BLR | ||||
9 | GhaemMaghami Ehsan | 2594 | IRI | ||||
10 | Neverov Valeriy | 2556 | UKR | ||||
11 | Mamedov Rauf | 2561 | AZE | ||||
12 | Ibrahimov Rasul | 2528 | AZE | ||||
13 | Fedorov Alexei | 2617 | BLR | ||||
14 | Abbasov Farid | 2443 | AZE | ||||
15 | Sturua Zurab | 2509 | GEO | ||||
16 | Rausis Igors | 2510 | BAN | ||||
17 | Allahverdiev Anar | 2435 | AZE | ||||
18 | Amin Bassem | 2453 | EGY | ||||
19 | Ushenina Anna | 2410 | UKR | ||||
20 | Alavi Sayed Javad | 2314 | IRI |
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