"Azerbaijan Chess Tour": 1553 Participants and Interesting Results in the First 6 Tournaments

1553 participants (300 of them women) competed in the first 6 tournaments of the "Azerbaijan Chess Tour" (Chess Tour Azerbaijan) project, which was held for the first time.

This was reported by "Report" with reference to the Azerbaijan Chess Federation.

It was reported that the "open" competitions planned for the spring-summer season have been completed.

Among the participants are 26 GMs, 37 IMs, 2 WIMs, 35 FMs, 6 WFMs, 14 CMs, and 12 WCMs. In total, there were 971 different chess players from 20 different federations.

According to the results of the completed tournaments of the "Chess Tour Azerbaijan" project, Khagan Ahmad was the main star. Khagan, who won 3 out of 5 competitions, increased his rating by 56 points from Sheki to Guba, reaching 2449.

International Master (IM) Khazar Babazadeh confirmed that his successful performance at the "Baku Open" was not accidental by becoming the winner of the "Shamakhi Open". Then, Khazar managed to cross the 2500 rating threshold by performing successfully in the Turkish 1st league.

Ukrainian representative GM Vitaliy Bernadski became one of the memorable figures of the project, taking 2nd place in 3 out of 5 competitions and 4th place in 1.

4 chess players participated in all 6 tournaments held in the series to date. These are IM Vugar Manafov, CM Tunar Davudov, Alakbar Ismayilov, and Sadagul Afandi. 9 chess players participated in 5 competitions, 53 chess players in 4 competitions, 102 chess players in 3 competitions, and 167 chess players in 2 competitions.

The courageous participation of GM Ahmad Ahmadzade and GM Mohammad Muradli, and Ahmad's victory in the "Vugar Hashimov Open" are also among the facts to be noted.

The number of participants by competition is as follows:
• Baku Open - 576 chess players
• Sheki Open - 260 chess players
• Shamakhi Open - 102 chess players
• Lankaran Open - 176 chess players
• Guba Open - 234 chess players
• Gashimov Open - 205 chess players

The next (final) 2 tournaments of the series will be held in November in Shirvan and Ganja.