Korobov wins Nakhchivan Open

Anton Korobov won the strong Nakhchivan Open in Azerbaijan. The Ukrainian grandmaster was the only player to finish on 7/9, half a point ahead of Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Paco Vallejo (Spain), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Alexander Ipatov (Spain), who scored his third GM norm.

A big chess set outside the playing hall | Photo © Azerbaijan Chess Federation

The 11th Nakhchivan Open took place April 23-May 1, 2011 at the "Nakhchivan Chess Center" in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It was a nine-round Swiss with a top group for players rated above 2250 (women rated above 2100) and a B group for players rated under 2250.

The festival was organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry, the Azerbaijan Chess Federation and the Nakhchivan AR Chess Federation. The total prize fund was US $66,500 (about 45,000 Euro), which attracted, among others, GMs Wang Yue (CHN, 2734), Zoltan Almasi (HUN, 2719), Vallejo (ESP, 2707), Evgenij Miroshnichenko (UKR, 2670), Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR, 2662), Ilya Smirin (ISR, 2658), Anton Korobov (UKR, 2647) and Ivan Sokolov (NED, 2643).

After five rounds, Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi was in the lead with 4.5 points. In the next round Paco Vallejo from Spain beat him to take over the lead, together with Ilya Smirin of Israel and local hero Gadir Guseinov. Vallejo continued strongly with a black win against Smirin to reach 6 points. Only Almasi followed with 5.5 points, and he was joined in second place again by Korobov in the penultimate round.

Still in sole lead, Vallejo lost the crucial last-round game to Korobov. Because Almasi drew with Smirin on board 2, it was Korobov who finished clear first, clinching the US $10,000 first prize. Almasi and Vallejo shared the second prize with Ivan Sokolov (the Netherlands), who beat Chinese GM and top seed Wang Yue in the last round, and Alexander Ipatov (Spain) - the four took home US $4,750 each.

For 17-year-old Ipatov from Spain this meant his third and final GM norm. In this tournament he beat GM Merab Gagunashvili, IM Davit Benidze and GM Konstantine Shanava and drew with GM Eltaj Safarli and GM Ivan Sokolov.

Selection of games

Game viewer by ChessTempo


Nakhchivan Open 2011 | Final Standings (top 30)

Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1
1	Korobov Anton	GM	UKR	2647	7.0	2531
2	Almasi Zoltan	GM	HUN	2719	6.5	2621
3	Vallejo Pons Francisco	GM	ESP	2707	6.5	2609
4	Sokolov Ivan	GM	NED	2643	6.5	2582
5	Ipatov Alexander	IM	ESP	2514	6.5	2464
6	Smirin Ilia	GM	ISR	2658	6.0	2557
7	Guseinov Gadir	GM	AZE	2584	6.0	2545
8	Landa Konstantin	GM	RUS	2609	6.0	2497
9	Safarli Eltaj	GM	AZE	2628	6.0	2462
10	Wang Yue	GM	CHN	2734	5.5	2560
11	Ibrahimov Rasul	GM	AZE	2526	5.5	2556
12	Turov Maxim	GM	RUS	2635	5.5	2544
13	Abbasov Farid	GM	AZE	2543	5.5	2515
14	Gagunashvili Merab	GM	GEO	2599	5.5	2506
15	Guliev Logman	IM	AZE	2468	5.5	2493
16	Mchedlishvili Mikheil	GM	GEO	2629	5.5	2417
17	Volkov Sergey	GM	RUS	2621	5.0	2536
18	Benidze Davit	IM	GEO	2503	5.0	2511
19	Durarbeyli Vasif	GM	AZE	2510	5.0	2492
20	Iskandarov Misratdin Mehdi Ogl		AZE	2235	5.0	2490
21	Rasulov Vugar Ural Oglu	IM	AZE	2499	5.0	2452
22	Miroshnichenko Evgenij	GM	UKR	2670	5.0	2444
23	Shanava Konstantine	GM	GEO	2560	5.0	2403
24	Fedorchuk Sergey A	GM	UKR	2662	5.0	2365
25	Aleksandrov Aleksej	GM	BLR	2638	4.5	2479
26	Filippov Anton	GM	UZB	2604	4.5	2464
27	Abdulov Orkhan Javanshir Oglu		AZE	2327	4.5	2459
28	Bajarani Ulvi	IM	AZE	2437	4.5	2420
29	Rzayev Bahruz Iqbal Oglu		AZE	2230	4.5	2376
30	Mamedjarova Turkan	WGM	AZE	2322	4.5	2373

Photos © Azerbaijan Chess Federation, more here

Links

• Official website
• Details at Chess Results
• Games in PGN via TWIC