A chess festival with a total prize fund of 100,000 USD was held in Oskemen, eastern Kazakhstan. The event featured three tournaments: a Masters, a Challengers, and an Open. The Masters attracted 67 players, including 19 grandmasters and two woman grandmasters (WGMs).
Top seed Richard Rapport entered the tournament as the clear favorite. After eight rounds, four players shared the lead with 6 points: Richard Rapport, former European Champion Alexander Demchenko, Indian GM S.P. Sethuraman, and two-time Under-18 World Champion Aleksey Grebnev, who held the best tiebreak score among them.
In the final round, Sethuraman drew with Denis Makhnev, while Richard Rapport defeated co-leader Alexander Demchenko. Grebnev also won his game, against Narayanan, which allowed him to maintain his superior tiebreak over Rapport. With both players finishing on 7 out of 9, Grebnev was declared the tournament winner.
In the crucial last round game against Narayanan Grebnev showed his endgame skills.
Finals standings
| Rank | Snr | Name | sex | Country | Elo | Pts | Tb1 | Tb2 | Tb3 | Tb4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | GM | Grebnev, Aleksey | FID | 2582 | 7 | 45 | 0 | 5 | 2702 | ||
| 2 | 1 | GM | Rapport, Richard | HUN | 2715 | 7 | 43,5 | 0 | 5 | 2681 | ||
| 3 | 7 | GM | Sethuraman, S.P. | IND | 2554 | 6,5 | 46,5 | 0 | 4 | 2677 | ||
| 4 | 11 | GM | Bocharov, Dmitry | FID | 2522 | 6,5 | 42,5 | 0 | 6 | 2625 | ||
| 5 | 3 | GM | Demchenko, Anton | SLO | 2610 | 6 | 43,5 | 0 | 5 | 2615 | ||
| 6 | 9 | GM | Makhnev, Denis | KAZ | 2535 | 6 | 43,5 | 0 | 3 | 2579 | ||
| 7 | 43 | IM | Sapenov, Daniyal | KAZ | 2414 | 6 | 41,5 | 0 | 5 | 2532 | ||
| 8 | 20 | GM | Suleymenov, Alisher | KAZ | 2497 | 6 | 40,5 | 0 | 3 | 2557 | ||
| 9 | 19 | IM | Uskov, Artem | FID | 2500 | 6 | 40 | 0 | 4 | 2508 | ||
| 10 | 2 | GM | Naiditsch, Arkadij | BUL | 2629 | 6 | 38,5 | 0 | 5 | 2569 | ||
| 11 | 18 | IM | Ilamparthi, A R | IND | 2500 | 5,5 | 45 | 0 | 4 | 2509 | ||
| 12 | 23 | IM | Agmanov, Zhandos | KAZ | 2483 | 5,5 | 45 | 0 | 3 | 2593 | ||
| 13 | 39 | IM | Vaz, Ethan | IND | 2429 | 5,5 | 44 | 0 | 5 | 2572 | ||
| 14 | 4 | GM | Narayanan, S L | IND | 2597 | 5,5 | 41,5 | 0 | 3 | 2576 | ||
| 15 | 28 | IM | Tahbaz, Arash | IRI | 2462 | 5,5 | 41 | 0 | 4 | 2583 | ||
| 16 | 8 | GM | Lobanov, Sergei | FID | 2548 | 5,5 | 40,5 | 0 | 3 | 2513 | ||
| 17 | 27 | IM | Stribuk, Artiom | FID | 2468 | 5,5 | 39,5 | 0 | 4 | 2484 | ||
| 18 | 14 | GM | Goganov, Aleksey | FID | 2516 | 5,5 | 39,5 | 0 | 3 | 2479 | ||
| 19 | 52 | IM | Agibileg, Uurtsaikh | MGL | 2380 | 5,5 | 38,5 | 0 | 3 | 2565 | ||
| 20 | 26 | IM | Pingin, Artem | FID | 2468 | 5,5 | 37 | 0 | 4 | 2475 | ||
| 21 | 10 | GM | Sivuk, Vitaly | SWE | 2526 | 5,5 | 35 | 0 | 5 | 2543 | ||
| 22 | 32 | IM | Gan-Erdene, Sugar | MGL | 2454 | 5,5 | 35 | 0 | 5 | 2478 | ||
| 23 | 58 | FM | Suleimen, Ergali | KAZ | 2330 | 5 | 45,5 | 0 | 2 | 2537 | ||
| 24 | 35 | IM | Mayank, Chakraborty | IND | 2448 | 5 | 38 | 0 | 4 | 2481 | ||
| 25 | 13 | GM | Nikitenko, Mihail | BLR | 2517 | 5 | 36 | 0 | 3 | 2445 | ||
| 26 | 25 | IM | Davtyan, Artur | ARM | 2471 | 5 | 36 | 0 | 2 | 2428 | ||
| 27 | 30 | Utegaliyev, Azamat | KAZ | 2462 | 5 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 2459 | |||
| 28 | 67 | WIM | Sultanbek, Zeinep | w | KAZ | 2067 | 4,5 | 46,5 | 0 | 4 | 2490 | |
| 29 | 57 | WGM | Balabayeva, Xeniya | w | KAZ | 2332 | 4,5 | 44 | 0 | 2 | 2497 | |
| 30 | 36 | IM | Ayush, Sharma | IND | 2433 | 4,5 | 42,5 | 0 | 4 | 2466 |
…67 players
Games
