Tajikistan Grandmaster Farrukh Amonatov, who lives in St. Petersburg, won the tournament. In the last round, he played against the representative of Mongolia Tsegmed Batchuluun and scored 7.5 points.
The second place was won by the Russian Alexander Shimanov and the third by the Belarusian Vladislav Kovalev. Kazakhstan Grandmaster Anuar Ismagambetov entered the top five showing the best result among Kazakhstani people.
“I really liked Astana,” said Belarusian grandmaster Vladislav Kovalev after the tournament. “This is an amazing city providing all conditions for summer holidays and promenades. In general, the tournament was very tight. I got seven points but this did not guarantee entering the top three. If the prize fund will remain the same next year, I will come again. Kazakhstani are high-level chess players and they were worthy opponents.”
The champion of Belarus also expressed confidence that the popularity of chess will grow all over the world in the near future. This is facilitated by not only the development of various online platforms but also the rivalry of different schools.
Let's remind that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is actively engaged in promotion of chess in the world. Incidentally, President of FIDE recently said that one billion people will play chess in a few years.
The largest chess festival of the country "Astana Open 2017" with the prize fund of 11 million tenge finished in the capital of Kazakhstan. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov came to its opening. Grandmasters from 10 countries took part in the tournament.
Chess is a very democratic sport. 600 chess players took part in the metropolitan open tournament. It is noteworthy that not only grandmasters but also amateurs came to Astana from abroad.
