Iranian GM Ghaem-Maghami (2562) shared the first place with British GM Luke McShane (2685), Indian GM Magesh Panchanathan (2541) and Bulgarian IM Andrey Gorovets (2514).

In the last round of the blitz section of the competitions held in Washington DC, US in 9 round Swiss, the 32-year-old Iranian national came first with the overall score of 7 out of 9. 123 chess players from 39 countries participated at this event which took place from June 25 to 30. The Iranian grandmaster secured 16 units to his international rating.

About Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami

Ghaem Maghami, born January 11th, 1982, is the first international grandmaster in Iranian chess history (2000), and the best Iranian chess player with regards to his ranking and rating since the age of 14, having won twelve Iranian Chess Championships (the last one in 2015).

In 2009, he won a 20-game combined match (four classical, four rapid and twelve blitz games) against Anatoly Karpov, played with a special rule: play to mate or dead draw. On the 8th and 9th of February 2011, he claimed the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games. After 25 hours, the final results were 580 wins, 16 draws and 8 losses for a total score of 588 out of 604 or 97.35 percent. Ten more boards were added which he won but which were not counted for the record.

He is a bachelor of law and now doing a masters in law and sports management at the University of Tehran. On the July 2015 FIDE list, he holds an Elo rating of 2570 (best Elo rating: 2633, April 2005). Ghaem-Maghami is married to Iranian WIM Shayetesh Ghader Pour (Elo rating: 2198 in July 2015. Best Elo rating: 2252, November 2011).

Sources: Mehr News Agency, Chess Events | DC Int’l 2015 Standings, BZ Basellandschaftliche Zeitung | Sport (in German), FIDE | Ratings, chessgames.com | Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, FIDE | World record by Ghaem-Maghami