A lot of players used the Christmas Holidays to take part in a chess tournament |

A lot of players used the Christmas Holidays to take part in a chess tournament. Or two. One of them was Azeri grandmaster Nijat Abasov. After winning the Christmas Open in Zürich he started in Basel, in the Chess Festival that took place from 2nd to 8th January. But in Basel he “only” finished sixth. Another Azeri won the tournament on tie-break: Eltaj Safarli.

Eltaj Safarli wins Chess Festival Basel 2017

The Chess Festival Basel included a Masters tournament, amateur tournaments, youth tournaments, and a blitz tournament. The main attraction was the Masters. This year more than 100 players took part, among them 12 grandmasters and a women grandmaster. After 9 rounds three players shared first place with 7.0/9: the Azeri Eltaj Safarli, Chinese talent Jinshi Bai and Christian Bauer from France.

op seed Safarli had the best tie-break and won the tournament, Jinshi Bai was second, Christian Bauer third. Nijat Abasov, the winner of the Zürich Christmas Open, finished sixth with 6.5/9.

With five wins and four draws Safarli played a solid tournament. He started with 4.5/5 and then finished the tournament with three draws and a win against Christian Bauer in round eight.