Nakhchivan open 2019

This is my first blog about tournament , that I played in Nakhichevan , Azerbaijan from 1 to 10 may 2019. Tournament dint go well for me in terms of rating but I got new friends there and of course some experience . Here are some points that I like and dislike about tournament and Azerbaijan .

1.Quality of players- The tournament Nakhichevan open A group is only for +2250 players and 2100+ for women . so clearly tournament is of high quality. total number of participants was 54 out of which 15 GM (4 2600+) and 46 players was +2250 . 1st seed was Kovalov Vladislav.

2.Hospitality - Organizers are very much helpful . They have provided official hotel Tabriz at 45 USD including 3 meals and double room for 1 person . As we are coming from abroad they offered some discount to us and free entry .They also booked return flights from Baku to Nakhichevan .On free day they have arranged football match also . On last day after we came from round we got a gift from organizer that include Candies , Jam bottles , books and green tea . This was awesome gesture from organizer .

Photo of Nakhchivan open 2019 2/3 by Nikhil Dixit

Culture - when I am planning to go to play Nakhichevan open we thought we will face some problem with culture . But Azerbaijan culture is really nice . people are really nice . I got 5 new friends and I learned 2 new card games (Mafia and Avalon) . We 9 people playing card game daily in night . I am attaching Instagram photo link that I cannot share here

Blitz tournament - Organizers arranged a blitz tournament on 6th may (free day) Blitz was only allowed to A category and top 10 From b category players and 1st prize was 500USD . 1st seed was grand master gadir guseinov from Azerbaijan . champion was Grand master Abasov Nijat from Azerbaijan . This is final list - http://chess-results.com/tnr437946.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9

Photo of Nakhchivan open 2019 3/3 by Nikhil Dixit — Official hotel and playing venue

My performance and final standing - This was not great tournament in terms of performance . I started very bad in first rounds with score 1.5/5 but recovered some points in last 4 rounds . so final rating change was -5.4 . tournament field was quite strong as you can see last two players are +2300 rating . Gareyev Timur become champion with score of 7.5/9 score without loss and got 5000 USD prize . This is final standing - http://chess-results.com/tnr428862.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&fed=USA

Overall Impression - organizer are very nice cooperative and helpful , Food was also good ( some dishes have Indian taste ) . They provided coffee ,tea, water and cookies in between round . Venue was decent and basically all players are playing very strong . city culture is also good . hotel , staff was decent . overall If you are eligible to play in A category you should definitely try to play this event