GM Parham Maghsoodloo stamped his superiority over the rest of the field to win in convincing fashion the 2021 Iranian Men National Chess Championship which ended Tuesday, April 13, in Tehran.
Maghsoodloo – also Iran’s number one player after GM Aliresa Firouzja left the country in December 2019 to change citizenship after Iran banned its players from playing in the World Rapid and World Blitz championships – scored 14 points in a 13-win, two-draw performance record – a full point ahead of second-placer GM Pouya Idani, who notched 13 markers. Maghsoodloo won his final two games, punctuating an amazing 12-game winning streak that started in Round 4.
Meanwhile, GM Aryan Gholami took 3rd place on tiebreaks against 2nd seed GM M. Amin Tabatabaei after both wound up with identical 9½ points. Veteran GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami finished solo 5th with 8½ points, while IM Seyed Khalil Mousavi wound up solo 6th with eight points.
The final standings: 1. Maghsoodloo, 14; 2. Idani, 13; 3-4. A. Gholami, Tabatabaei, 9½; 5. Ghaem Maghami, 8½; 6. Mousavi, 8; 7-8. Mosadeghpour, M. Gholami, 7½; 9-11. Darini, Daghli, Daneshvar, 7; 12. Atakhan, 6; 13. Hakemi, 5½; 14. Jahedi, 4½; 15. Veisi, 3; 16. Nikookar, 2½.
Ghaem Maghami, E (2561)-Idani, P (2588) [B50]
Tehran (14.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bd3 d5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bc2 Nc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb6 9.Nbd2 Bd7 10.a3 Qc8 11.Nf1 Bg4 12.Ne3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qh3 14.Bf5 Qh4 15.Nc2 e6 16.Bd3 f6 17.f4 fxe5 18.fxe5 Be7 19.Rg1 h5 20.Rxg7 0-0-0 21.Be3 Rdg8 22.Rxg8+ Rxg8 23.Qf3 Rg1+ 24.Bf1 Qxh2 25.0-0-0 Kd7 26.Qh3 Rh1 27.Qxh2 Rxh2 28.b3 Bh4 29.Rd2 Nc8 30.Bd3 N8e7 31.Ne1 Nf5 32.Bxf5 exf5 33.Nd3 Be7 34.b4 a5 35.Rb2 axb4 36.axb4 h4 37.Kd2 Rh1 38.Nc5+ Ke8 39.Ra2 h3 40.Ra8+ Nd8 41.Bf4 h2 42.Bxh2 Bxc5 43.dxc5 Rxh2 44.b5 Rxf2+ 45.Kc3 Rf4 0-1
Maghsoodloo, P (2676)-Mosadeghpour, M (2498) [E04]
Tehran (14.6) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 dxc4 7.Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.Nbxd2 b5 9.a4 c6 10.0-0 0-0 11.b3 cxb3 12.Nxb3 Ba6 13.Rfd1 bxa4 14.Nc5 Bb5 15.Ne5 Qd6 16.Nxa4 Na6 17.Nb6 Nb4 18.Qd2 Ra6 19.Nbc4 Qc7 20.Nxa5 Bxe2 21.Qxb4 Bxd1 22.Nexc6 Bh5 23.Ne7+ Kh8 24.Ng6+ Bxg6 25.Qxf8+ Ng8 26.Qc5 Ra7 27.Ra3 Qe7 28.h4 h5 29.Bf3 Nf6 30.Nc4 Rc7 31.Ra8+ Kh7 32.Qb5 Bd3 33.Qb8 Kh6 34.Ne5 Bh7 35.Qh8 Qb4 36.Rf8 Qxd4 37.Nxf7+ 1-0
Tabatabaei, M (2629)-Daneshvar, B (2401) [B13]
Tehran (14.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 a6 7.c3 Bg4 8.Bd3 e6 9.0-0 Bd6 10.Bxd6 Qxd6 11.Re1 0-0 12.a3 Qc7 13.Qc2 Rac8 14.Ne5 Nxd4 15.Qa4 Ne2+ 16.Bxe2 Qxe5 17.Bxg4 Qg5 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Nf3 Qh5 20.Rxe6 Rc4 21.Qd1 Rf4 22.Re5 Qg6 23.Rg5 Qh6 24.Qd2 Ng4 25.h3 Rxf3 26.gxf3 Nf6 27.Kh2 Kh8 28.Qf4 g6 29.Re1 Qg7 30.Qd4 h6 31.Rge5 Rf7 32.Re6 Kh7 33.Qe5 g5 34.Re7 Kg6 35.Rxf7 Qxf7 36.Qe7 Qg8 37.Re6 1-0
Veisi, B (2273)-Gholami, A (2507) [E00]
Tehran (14.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 c5 5.Bxb4 cxb4 6.Bg2 0-0 7.e3 Nc6 8.Ne2 d6 9.0-0 e5 10.a3 Qa5 11.Qb3 Bg4 12.f3 Bd7 13.d5 Ne7 14.Qxb4 Qc7 15.Nd2 a5 16.Qc3 b5 17.b3 a4 18.b4 bxc4 19.e4 Qb6+ 20.Rf2 Rac8 21.Rc1 Nfxd5 22.exd5 Nxd5 23.Qb2 Ne3 24.Nf1 Nxg2 25.Kxg2 Be6 26.Nc3 Qb7 27.Ne4 Rfd8 28.Rd1 Qb6 29.Nc3 Qb7 30.Ne3 d5 31.Nxa4 d4 32.Nc5 Qb6 33.Nf1 Bd5 34.Qe2 Re8 35.Nd2 c3 36.Nc4 Qc7 37.Kg1 f6 38.Qd3 Rcd8 39.Re1 Qc6 40.Na5 Qc7 41.Nc4 Bf7 42.Na5 Kh8 43.f4 Bg6 44.Qc4 e4 45.f5 Bf7 46.Qe2 d3 47.Qe3 d2 48.Qxc3 Qe5 49.Qe3 dxe1Q+ 50.Qxe1 e3 51.Re2 Bd5 52.Qc1 Qxf5 53.Rxe3 Qh3 54.Rxe8+ Rxe8 55.Qd2 Re1+ 0-1
Gholami, A (2507)-Maghsoodloo, P (2676) [D02]
Tehran (15.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 7.Nb3 Bf5 8.c3 e6 9.h3 Be7 10.a4 a6 11.a5 Qd8 12.Bd3 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 0-0 14.0-0 Nd7 15.Nfd2 b6 16.axb6 Qxb6 17.Ra2 Qb5 18.Qxb5 axb5 19.Rfa1 Rxa2 20.Rxa2 Rc8 21.Ra6 b4 22.Kf1 bxc3 23.bxc3 g5 24.Bg3 f5 25.f3 Kf7 26.Ra2 h5 27.Ke2 Nf8 28.Kd1 Ng6 29.Nc1 Bd8 30.Nd3 Ba5 31.Ra3 Kf6 32.Be5+ Ke7 33.Bg3 Bc7 34.Bxc7 Rxc7 35.Ke2 Na7 36.Ra5 Nc8 37.Rc5 Rxc5 38.dxc5 Na7 39.c4 d4 40.g4 hxg4 41.hxg4 Nc6 42.gxf5 exf5 43.Nb3 Kf6 44.Kf2 Nge5 45.Nxe5 Kxe5 46.Kg3 d3 47.Kf2 Kf4 48.Nc1 Nb4 49.c6 d2 50.Ne2+ Ke5 51.Nc3 Nxc6 52.Ke3 f4+ 53.Kxd2 Nd4 54.Kd3 Nxf3 55.c5 Kf5 56.Nb5 Ne5+ 57.Ke2 Nc6 58.Nd6+ Kg4 59.Ne4 Ne5 60.Kf2 Kf5 61.Nd6+ Ke6 62.Ne4 g4 63.Kg2 Nc6 64.Kf2 Nd4 65.Nc3 Ke5 66.Na2 Kf5 67.Nb4 g3+ 68.Kg1 f3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bg7, Rg7 2.Qe6#; 1…Rf7 2.Qg5#; 1…Rxe7 2.Qg6#; 1…Rh6/h5/h4/h3/h2/h1 2.Qf8#; 1…Kf5 2.Qg6/e6#; 1…Kxe7 2.Nd5#./PN
