Kamsky wins the Baku Open

Baku is the capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan and was the venue for a strong open between the 23rd and 31st of August 2010.
Despite a loss to Rauf Mamedov the American top seed Gata Kamsky won the event with 7.5/9.

Kamsky won the first prize of $10.000 which tops off a largely successful period for him (wins in the US Championship and World Rapid, tempered slightly with a poor showing in the World Open).

There were 159 players in the nine-round swiss which was played with a Classical time limit.

The total prize fund of $60.000 USD attracted eleven other nationalities and a total of sixteen GMs to compete.

Final standings were as follows:

1	Gata Kamsky	GM	USA	2713	7,5
2	Emil Sutovsky	GM	ISR	2665	7
3	Aleksej Aleksandrov	GM	BLR	2642	7
4	Asghar Golizadeh	FM	IRI	2481	7
5	Nijat Abasov	IM	AZE	2517	7
6	Rauf Mamedov	GM	AZE	2660	6,5
7	Evgenij Miroshnichenko	GM	UKR	2686	6,5
8	Djakhangir Agaragimov	FM	AZE	2311	6,5
9	Boris Savchenko	GM	RUS	2623	6,5
10	Farid Abbasov	GM	AZE	2549	6,5
11	Gadir Guseinov	GM	AZE	2611	6,5
12	Baris Esen	IM	TUR	2518	6,5
13	Rasul Ibrahimov	GM	AZE	2534	6,5
14	Ilia Smirin Ilia	GM	ISR	2646	6,5
15	Shahriyar Rahmanov	-	AZE	2245	6,5
16	Vasif Durarbeyli	GM	AZE	2501	6,5
17	Malkhaz Sulashvili	IM	GEO	2498	6,5
18	Leyla Javakhishvili	IM	GEO	2469	6,5

As for norms, two GM norms were made (by Asghar Golizadeh from Iran and Djankhandir Agaragimov from Azerbaijan) and as many as five IM norms were achieved. The happy quintet were Shahriyar Rahmanov, Ayaz Mammadov, Shujaat Orujov, Mushvig Asgarov and Kamal Agasiyev (all Azerbaijani).

For more information go to the Official site

You can also find additional information from the young IM Ulvi Bajarani on his site Ulvi Bajarani