Azerbaijani grandmaster Eltaj Safarli, who won the international tournament held in Indonesia, shared his thoughts with Report.
Idman.biz reports that the chess player stated that he had dominated most of his matches: "The tournament went well and was comfortable for me. The second round was tough. In the only game I lost, I took a significant risk in a drawn position. In all the other games, I was mostly in the lead. I might have scored more points, but still, 8.5 points from 11 games is a good result."
Safarli also shared his impressions of the tournament: "It was a closed tournament. Generally, it’s tough to play in such competitions due to the ranking. Most of the players had lower ratings. Among the well-known players was Indian grandmaster Sethuraman Panayappan, who had been playing with a rating of 2650-2700 for years. Australian grandmaster Temur Kuybokarov also participated. In total, 12 chess players from 7 countries took part, nearly all of them representing their national teams."
He also commented on the prize fund and upcoming plans: "The tournament consisted of A and B groups, with an overall prize fund of 40,000 dollars. As for future plans, I will participate in the Reykjavik Open in April."
Eltaj Safarli scored 8.5 points in the 11-round tournament, surpassing all his opponents.
Idman.biz
