Kasimdzhanov Wins 1st Central Asia Cup
The 1st Central Asia Chess Cup took place from 17-27 October in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and was won by the #1 ranked Uzbek player Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
This new competition was a 9 round Swiss open to players from the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.
The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes to finish, with a 30 seconds increment from the start. A total of 53 players took part and the prize fund was 25,000 USD, with the winner taking 4,000 USD.
Former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov emerged the winner with 7½ points after a final round victory placed him above his nearest rival Anton Filippov who lost his last game, and dropped back to 4th place.
The top finishers:
| Kasimdzhanov Rustam | UZB | 2678 | 7.5 |
| Kotsur Pavel | KAZ | 2558 | 7.0 |
| Saidov Begali | UZB | 2350 | 7.0 |
| Filippov Anton | UZB | 2606 | 6.5 |
| Kvon Andrey | UZB | 2486 | 6.0 |
| Ismagambetov Anuar | KAZ | 2500 | 6.0 |
| Abdyjapar Asyl | KGZ | 2308 | 6.0 |
| Karimov Ibragim | UZB | 2313 | 6.0 |
| Muminova Nafisa | UZB | 2319 | 6.0 |
The official website was the Uzbekistan Chess Federation website.
