Young Idani wins 10th Khazar Cup

by ChessBase
3/14/2012 – The Guilan Province, which is located in the north of Iran, has a lot of natural attractions, such as the great Caspian Sea and the Hyrcanian Forests, but is also home to most of the famous Iranian chess players. They recently held the 10th Kahazar Cup, with nearly 50 titled players, and ended in a fantastic victory for 16-year-old IM Pouya Idani from Iran. An illustrated report by Shohreh Bayat.

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Young Idani wins 10th Khazar Cup

By Shohreh Bayat

Guilan Province, which is located in the north of Iran, has a lot of natural attractions. The great Caspian Sea and the Hyrcanian Forests, which are relics of the third geological era, are not the only qualities of this province. Since long ago Guilan was the cradle of chess in Iran and most of the famous Iranian chess players were natives of Guilan. Therefore it is not surprising that Rasht City, at the center of Guilan province hosted the Tenth Khazar International Competition. The tenth edition, held from February 29 to March 7, included close to 500 players from nine countries (Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Pakistan) in four sections: D (under 14), C (Women), B (under 2100 Elo) and A (over 2100 Elo). The strongest section (A) had 103 players including 12 grandmasters, 17 international masters, and 13 FIDE masters, and ended in a fantastic victory for 16-year-old IM Pouya Idani from Iran. The young Iranian, who only just became an International Master last year, scored 9.0/11, for a 2677 performance, concluding with three consecutive victories over grandmasters, including top-seed Sergey Tiviakov in the last round.


Mohammad Jafar Kambuzia, President of Iran Chess Federation at the opening ceremony


IM Pouya Idani (2448) won the main event with 9.0/11. Pouya also came second at
the World Youth Championships in the Under 16 section, and is third in the overall
Iranian chess circuit.


IM Giga Quparadze from Georgia (2451) ended on 8.5/11 and came second


Russian GM Oleg Korneev (2584 Elo) came third with 8.0/11. Korneev had a great
start and seemed like he might run away with the event after a perfect 5.0/5 start.
He dropped his first half point to Idani in round six.


Dutch GM Sergei Tiviakov came in as the top-seed and clear favorite, but ended in a
disappointing seventh place.

In the last round against Idani, he was apparently better, however not only failed to win, but actually ended up losing. Tiviakov also has a very nice collection of historical coins from around the world, and took advantage to add Iranian coins to his collection.


Kiuoumars Bayat, the organizer of the competition, and the President of the Guilan Chess Association


IM Hamed Mousavian successfully earned a grandmaster norm. Hamed is a staunch
defender of animal rights and is a vegetarian.


FM Omid Noroozi (2314) might have earned an IM norm had he not defaulted a game for arriving late.


Sara Sadat Khademalsharieh was the Girl’s World Under-12 champion and came third
in the recent Under-14 championship. The fourteen year-old earned a men’s international
master norm, including a second round win over GM Morteza Mahjoob.


Grandmaster Homayoon Toufighi, in spite of being ill in the final rounds, played all the
way through and came in eighth. Homayoon is a university student studying physical education.


IM Mohsen Sharbaf had an excellent tournament and earned 13 Elo to his rating. Mohsen
believes that a chess player is like a samurai in battlefield and should die with a sword in his
hands. This uncompromising approach led to several rejected draw offers even against grandmasters.


Georgian grandmaster Levan Pantasulia ended with 6.5/11 and came in 22nd


GM Farid Abbasov (2551), the winner of the 8th Khazar Cup, also scored 6.5/11


International Master Seyed Javad Alavi is a member of the Iranian National Team


Fide Master Amirreza Pourramezanali, the strong Guilan player with a white t-shirt,
was unable to beat Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei. Mohammad Amin trained for a
week prior to the competition under Tiviakov’s tutelage.


Ali Faghirnavaz (2319) played slightly above his rating and earned six points


Fereydoon Eskandari the International chess arbiter was the supervisor of the Khazar Cup competitions

Final standings of main event

Rk.
Tit
Name
Fed
Rtg
Pts
1
IM
Idani Pouya
2448
9.0
2
IM
Quparadze Giga
2451
8.5
3
GM
Korneev Oleg
2584
8.0
4
IM
Moosavian S Hamed
2343
8.0
5
Iskandarov Misratdin
2305
8.0
6
IM
Azaladze Shota
2403
7.5
7
GM
Tiviakov Sergei
2677
7.5
8
GM
Toufighi Homayoon
2444
7.5
9
IM
Benidze Davit
2516
7.5
10
GM
Yegiazarian Arsen
2430
7.5
11
IM
Sharbaf Mohsen
2387
7.0
12
GM
Golizadeh Asghar
2464
7.0
13
GM
Gaprindashvili Valeriane
2400
7.0
14
IM
Darini Pouria
2458
7.0
15
IM
Mammadov Zaur Fazahir
2368
7.0
16
GM
Mahjoob Morteza
2440
7.0

Click here for full standings


Kimia Moradi won the C group (Women's tournament) with 7.5/9


Mehrnoush Zavar Mousavi was the C Group leader until the 8th round but a loss to
Narmin Mammadova from Azerbaijan left her in second. Mehrnoush is also an electrical
engineer from the University of Guilan.


Arian Yousefikia won the prize for best under 10 in Group D (Under 14 years-old)


Soulkhan Sirbiladze from Georgia, the champion of the B Group, is white here against
Ali Mousavi, who came in third.


Mohammadsadegh Marzoughi, ended with 7.0/9 in the B Group.


Some of the arbiters. Sitting (left to right): Shohreh Bayat, Maghsoud Giahi (Chief Arbiter),
Akbar Bagheri, Hamidreza Jadidi. Standing (left to right):
Mahmoud Pourhajghanbar,
Mahta Zahedi, Fariba Bagherzadeh, Mahboubeh Shirvani.


Some of the arbiters from the women's tournament beside Kiuoumars Bayat, the
organizer.
(Left to right): Arezou Askarkhah, Simin Kalhori (the Deputy chief of the
Guilan Province Chess Board), Sareh Khavari.


Mahmoud Tarazi and Majid Zeinali, the arbiters of groups B and A


Kiana Ebrahimi played in the D group and is one of the talented Under-10 players


Rastin Mousapour, Parham Safari and Mahan Yektaei are talented Under-8 and Under-10
players. Mahan (left) is also gifted at playing the violin.


About the author

Shohreh Bayat is a WFM from Iran, holds two WIM norms, and has won numerous Iranian tournaments such as the Iranian woman blitz championship, the Iranian junior chess championship, the Iranian woman chess festival championship and was vice-champion of the Iranian rapid chess tournament. Shohreh is a chess teacher and manager of a chess club in Rasht.

She has an "A" degree in chess instruction per the Iran chess federation, and is also an "A" degree arbiter in the Iran chess federation.

 


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