International chess tournament in Fajr, Iran -

Report by FM Arash Akbarinia 

ادامه گزارش مسابقات بین المللی فجر ایران :

WIM Lilit Galojan 2307 from Armenia with her Bronze Medal, and Armenian WIM Siranush Andriasian, 2228, who looks great even with a Hijab! Her prize was the same as the Champion, she just did not take a medal. But I do not think that really bothers her.

Women final ranking after nine rounds

WIM Atousa Pourkashiyan, 2282, took seventh place, which was the best result of an Iranian girl. After the closing ceremony she gave an interview to the News Channel.

P. Jayalazmi, 2037, Tejaswini Reddy, 1967 and Chandana Priya Reddy, 1944, were the three Indian players in the First Fajr Women Tournament. I talked to Priya, and she told me that she liked Tehran much more than Urmia.

IM Sopiko Khukhashvili, 2387, and WIM Inga Charkhalashvili, 2369. Sophie was the top rank at the start of the tournament, but she was not in a good mood and finished unexpectedly with 5.5 points. Inga, who during the whole tournament was thinking about her five-years-old daughter, took the sixth place with 6.5 points.

Unfortunately, due to the very intensive tournament schedule, two rounds at most of the days, our guests did not have chance to take a short trip to the beautiful sights of Province West Azerbaijan. Personally as an Iranian, I think that was a big shame. So, let’s look at just a few of these tourists’ attractions.

Qara Kelissa, Chaldoran, believed by some to have been first built in AD 66 by Saint Jude. Local Armenians believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed in its present form after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319.

Salt crystals, on the shore of Lake Urmia (ancient name: Lake Matiene)

Lake Urmia is a salt lake, the largest inside Iran

A small island in Lake Urmia

The lake is marked by more than a hundred small rocky islands, which are stopover points in the migrations of various kinds of wild bird life. The second largest island, Kaboudi, is the burial place of Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the sacker of Baghdad, where he had his treasury.

Urmia is the traditional birthplace of the Persian religious teacher Zoroaster

Zoroaster is portrayed above in a popular Parsi Zoroastrian depiction. This image emerged in the eighteenth century, the result of an Indian Parsi Zoroastrian artist’s imagination under European influence. It quickly became a popular icon, and is now regarded by many Indian Zoroastrians as being historically based

The Parthian Fire Temple Takht-i-Suleiman, Takab

Yours truly, FM Arash Akbarinia, 2300, who also won an IM norm