14th Caspian Cup

It was a great pleasure to have Anatoly Karpov in the opening ceremony. While the top guys (2100+) were fighting in Group A, there were Group B  (for U2100 players) and Group C for women, plus age restricted groups for U14 and U06.

Hotel Kosar where most players stayed during the tournament. Just meters from the Caspian sea.

I had to play in Group B (U2100) which happened to be overcrowded with over 350 players making it the only group with 11 games (all the other groups had to play 9 rounds I guess). Although 11 rounds seemed kinda low, there was no way they would have prolonged the tournament!

Overall it was a good experience for me. Played 10 games (last opponent did not show up!) mostly with higher rated players and managed to get 6 points and finish 123rd gaining about 48 rating points (Not bad at all!). Before the tournament I was confident of my opening repertoire, but reality seemed to disagree and I had opening problems in most games (I resigned my first game after only 11 moves against a 2000+ opponent!). The occasional middle-game  blunders seemed to be there as well, not as often though! Still I seem to have a long way to go if I'm ever gonna make it to 1800-1900 territory.

Here's one of my games (any tips, please shoot):