Chess has a long history in Iran. Many believe that the game originated from here. The Iranian chess federation was very busy this year organizing different tournaments . One of them was the prestigious FIDE Women Grand Prix tournament in Tehran. However the most interesting event took place in the Anzali Free Zone . The event took place from July 9-21 and was opened by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and former World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The idea was to make a first and not the last chess event as a training opportunity for their young and for the Iranian Olympic team.
The visiting stars were ten grandmasters from various age and from different countries. The Iranian team’s captain was experienced Ehsan Ghaemmaghami who at age of 33 was by far the oldest player in his team. The competition was organized as 10-round Scheveningen match between two teams of 10 players each.
World Stars
| Bd | Name | Rtg | FED | |
| 1 | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | 2679 | ARM |
| 2 | GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2664 | RUS |
| 3 | GM | Edouard Romain | 2639 | FRA |
| 4 | GM | Short Nigel D | 2652 | ENG |
| 5 | GM | Sokolov Ivan | 2642 | NED |
| 6 | GM | Miroshnichenko Evgenij | 2616 | UKR |
| 7 | GM | Lu Shanglei | 2611 | CHN |
| 8 | GM | Mchedlishvili Mikheil | 2604 | GEO |
| 9 | GM | Ehlvest Jaan | 2524 | USA |
| 10 | GM | Vakhidov Jahongir | 2586 | UZB |
Iran Stars
| Bd | Name | Rtg | FED | |
| 1 | GM | Idani Pouya | 2560 | IRI |
| 2 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | 2569 | IRI |
| 3 | GM | Darini Pouria | 2524 | IRI |
| 4 | Maghsoodloo Parham | 2501 | IRI | |
| 5 | IM | Pourramezanali Amirreza | 2509 | IRI |
| 6 | Firouzja Alireza | 2481 | IRI | |
| 7 | IM | Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | 2445 | IRI |
| 8 | IM | Lorparizangeneh Shahin | 2468 | IRI |
| 9 | FM | Gholami Aryan | 2454 | IRI |
| 10 | IM | Mousavi Seyed Khalil | 2432 | IRI |
It was very clear from the start which team is going to win. The overall margin should be bigger, but the visiting stars missed a lot of opportunities. Only happy visitor was Nigel Short who was very determined and finished with 8,5 points. He however was not the winner. 15-year-old Parham Mahhsoodloo rated before the event 2501 was Iran’s most successful player, finishing the event with 8.0/10 and an incredible performance of 2862. This earned him his third grandmaster norm and thus the title. The overall result was 64.5 -35.5 in favor of the World stars.
It was not my first experience to take part in such a event. In 1991 I was participant in the match between representatives of former Soviet Union and Spain. The match held in Logrono was a memorable one for me. I scored 10,5 out of 12 drawing last two games. Other experience I had was in Malaisa. The event took place in paradise island of Bali and I was the leader of the “Rest of the World” team. In both occasions in Spain and in Bali the organizers tried to entertain the visitors as much as possible.
This time in Iran I was the lowest rated player in our team and also the oldest. I was expecting the Bali like beach holiday. I was on the Caspian sea years ago in Baku and I was looking forward to enjoy it again. Our first accommodation was near the beach, but it appeared that the tournament venue was too far from our hotel. It took at least more than an hour by bus. This situation created our own Oliver Twist. He, Nigel Short, even did not care to ask the opinion of others, but demanded immediately other accommodation closer to the playing hall.
Unfortunately his request was granted next morning and we moved to the best hotel of city of Rasht. The playing venue was one of the Anzili free zone building complexes which was very fine, but it was still far from out hotel. Twice a day the bus trip was exhausting. Older players like yours truly missed a lot of winning positions at the end of the tournament.
In overall it seems to me that Iran has a lot of support for chess, sponsors etc. They can still improve the organization side of the chess life in general. Right now some of the players were little bit pessimistic to take another chess adventure to Iran in near future.
In my opinion if we consider the chess as hard work and if the players are well paid it is fine. Still usually the money in chess is so small and we are trying to mix it with holiday adventure or just fulfill our curiosity. Right now I had a lot of chess experience and I got very clear picture of Iranian players and I can predict their future. As a tourist I was on my own and because of the tight schedule, no free day, I am afraid I need one more visit to Iran. The organizers were sure that the second Star’s Cup takes place next year.
Welcome to Iran!
Jaan Ehlvest
