THIS year’s Iranian Men National Chess Championship started April 5 in the capital city of Tehran with 16 of that country’s top chess players competing for the distinction of being Iran’s national champion.
The tournament is a Category 8 (average Elo:2437) single round robin standard classical event with a time format of 90 minutes plus a 30-seconds increment per move. The tourney is joined by (in the order of their seeding) GMs Parham Maghsoodloo (2676), M. Amin Tabatabaei (2629), Pouya Idani (2588), Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2561), IM Seyed Khalil Mousavi (2522), GMs Aryan Gholami (2507), Masoud Mosadeghpour (2498), Pouria Darini (2432), FM Arash Daghli (2431), untitled Orimi Mahdi Gholami (2428), IM Bardiya Daneshvar (2401), FMs Arman Hakemi (2316) and Abtin Atakhan (2294), untitled Bardia Veisi (2273), Mahdi Nikookar (2239), and Mani Jahedi (2201).
After 13 rounds of play, Maghsoodloo is leading the event, half-a-point of 3rd seed Idani. The 21-year old Maghsoodloo and the 26-year old Idani are miles away – actually 3½ points – from their nearest competitors and. With just two rounds to go, one of them will likely emerge champion. Both are undefeated with Maghsoodloo notching 11 wins and two draws, and Idani with 10 wins and three draws.
The standings after Round 13: 1. Maghsoodloo, 12; 2. Idani, 11½; 3. Gholami, 8½; 4. Ghaem Maghami, 8; 5. Tabatabaei, 7½; 6. Mousavi, 7; 7-10. Mosadeghpour, Darini, Daneshvar, Gholami, 6½; 11-12. Daghli, Atakhan, 5½; 13. Hakemi, 4½; 14. Jahedi, 3; 15-16. Veisi, Nikookar, 2½.
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Tabatabaei, M. (2629) [E46]
Tehran (5.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 c5 6.a3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Ne2 b6 9.d5 d6 10.Qc2 Nxc3 11.Nxc3 e5 12.0-0-0 Na6 13.f4 exf4 14.exf4 Nc7 15.Bd3 f5 16.g4 Qh4 17.h3 Bd7 18.Kb1 Qf6 19.Rhg1 Rae8 20.Rg3 Re7 21.Rdg1 Kh8 22.Ka1 g6 23.g5 Qd4 24.Ne2 Qg7 25.h4 b5 26.h5 Kg8 27.hxg6 hxg6 28.Rh3 bxc4 29.Bxc4 Rfe8 30.Rgh1 Nb5 31.Qd2 Nd4 32.Nxd4 cxd4 33.Ka2 Re3 34.Rh6 d3 35.Bxd3 Qd4 36.Bb5 1-0
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Ghaem Maghami, E (2561) [E42]
Tehran (7.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Nge2 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.c5 Ne4 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.Nxc3 Nc6 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Qg4 0-0 12.Qxe4 Qxd4 13.Bd3 Qxe4+ 14.Bxe4 e5 15.b4 a6 16.0-0-0 Be6 17.Kb2 f5 18.Bb1 Rfd8 19.Bc3 Kf7 20.a4 g6 21.f3 Rd5 22.Rxd5 Bxd5 23.Rd1 Be6 24.Rd6 Ke7 25.Bd3 Ra7 26.b5 axb5 27.axb5 Nd4 28.Bb4 Ra2+ 29.Kc3 Kf7 30.f4 Ne2+ 31.Bxe2 Rxe2 32.Rb6 Bd5 33.fxe5 Bxg2 34.Rf6+ Kg8 35.e6 Bd5 36.c6 bxc6 37.b6 1-0
Idani, P (2588)-Mosadeghpour, M (2498) [C84]
Tehran (6.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 d6 7.c3 0-0 8.Re1 b5 9.Bc2 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.d4 Bf8 12.d5 Ne7 13.b3 c6 14.c4 cxd5 15.cxd5 Rc8 16.Nf1 Qc7 17.Ne3 g6 18.Bd2 Bg7 19.a4 Nxe4 20.Bxe4 f5 21.Rc1 Qd7 22.Bc2 f4 23.Nf1 Bxd5 24.Bb4 Rc6 25.axb5 axb5 26.N1d2 Rec8 27.Ne4 Bxe4 28.Rxe4 Qc7 29.Re2 Nf5 30.h3 Bf6 31.Qd3 Kg7 32.Kh2 Nh4 33.Nxh4 Bxh4 34.Rd1 f3 35.Qxf3 Rxc2 36.Bxd6 Qf7 37.Bxe5+ Kg8 38.Rxc2 Rxc2 39.Qa8+ Qf8 40.Qd5+ Qf7 41.Qxb5 Rxf2 42.Qc6 Bf6 43.Qc8+ Kg7 44.Bg3 Re2 45.Rd7 Re7 46.Rxe7 Bxe7 47.Qd7 h5 48.b4 Qf6 49.Qd5 Kh6 50.b5 h4 51.Bc7 Qf2 52.Qe5 1-0
Idani, P (2588)-Daghli, A (2431) [B31]
Tehran (13.6) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 f6 7.c4 d6 8.0-0 c5 9.Qd3 Bg7 10.Nc3 Rb8 11.Rd1 Be6 12.Qe2 Rb7 13.Bf4 Qc8 14.a3 Nh6 15.Nd5 0-0 16.b4 Nf7 17.Rab1 Bg4 18.bxc5 dxc5 19.h3 Bxf3 20.Qxf3 e6 21.Nc3 Rxb1 22.Rxb1 Qc6 23.Qd1 f5 24.Qa4 Qa8 25.Bd2 Rd8 26.Be1 fxe4 27.Qa6 e3 28.fxe3 Bxc3 29.Bxc3 Qe4 30.Re1 e5 31.Qe6 Qf5 32.Qe7 Qd7 33.Qxc5 Rc8 34.Qb4 Qd3 35.Qb2 Qxc4 36.Bxe5 Qc2 37.Qd4 Rd8 38.Qf4 Rd1 39.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 40.Kh2 Nxe5 41.Qxe5 Qd7 42.Kg3 Kf7 43.Qf4+ Ke7 44.a4 h5 45.Qe5+ Kf7 46.a5 Qc6 47.e4 Qc2 48.Qd5+ Ke7 49.a6 Qc7+ 50.e5 Qc3+ 51.Kh2 Qe3 52.Qd6+ Kf7 53.Qf6+ 1-0
Gholami, A (2507)-Ghaem Maghami, E (2561) [A45]
Tehran (13.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Nbd2 d5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bb5 Nh5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Ne5 Nf6 11.Bxc6 gxh4 12.Ba4 c5 13.h3 Qb6 14.Rb1 cxd4 15.exd4 Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Qh5 Qf6 18.Bb3 Be6 19.Ng4 Bxg4 20.hxg4 a5 21.Qxh4 Qf4 22.0-0 e5 23.d5 Ra6 24.g3 Qf3 25.Rbe1 Rg6 26.Bc2 Qxg4 27.Qxg4 Rxg4 28.Rxe4 Rxe4 29.Bxe4 f5 30.Bd3 e4 31.Bc4 Be5 32.d6+ Kg7 33.Rd1 Kf6 34.Rd5 b6 35.Kf1 h5 36.Ke2 Rh8 37.a4 Rc8 38.d7 Rd8 39.Bb5 Bc7 40.b4 Rh8 41.bxa5 bxa5 42.Rc5 Bd8 43.Rc8 Ke7 44.c4 h4 45.gxh4 f4 46.c5 f3+ 47.Kd2 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…e5, Kxf3 2.Sg5#; 1…Sg4/f1 2.R(x)g4#; 1…Sxf3 2.Qh7#; 1…Bc2/b3/a4/e2 2.R(x)e2#; 1…Bxf3 2.Qb1#./PN
