IM Ali Bitalzadeh

IM Ali Bitalzadeh is the opponent of our very own GM Wesley So in Round 9 of Group C in Corus Chess 2009.

Bitalzadeh who? Some information about him:

-- lowest rated participant in Group C (2400)
-- Dutch Open 2008 champion
-- an 1.e4 player with White (based on chessgames.com database)

IM Ali Bitalzadeh (2400) of the Netherlands

I looked for some information about him. Here's what I dug from the Web:

"After finishing school in May, 19-year-old Dutch FM Ali Bitalzadeh decided to be a professional player for a year. Two months later, at the Open Dutch Championship, he surprised everybody by winning clear, ahead of 6 GMs and 7 IMs, scoring his third IM and first GM norm, without a single loss.

But first we need to tell a bit more about what exactly happened. What? The Open Dutch Championships. Where? Dieren, a Dutch small town where the tournament has been held for ages. When? 21-31 July, 2008. Who? GMs Ikonnikov, Sandipan, Ernst, Van den Doel, Nijboer and Pavlovic and IMs Simutowe, Bosch, Brandenburg, Sriram, Hendriks, Van Delft and Wohl were topping the list of participants.

But… it was somebody else who would be stealing the show.After a smooth victory with Black, FM Bitalzadeh surprised for the first time by beating GM Chanda Sandipan (2558). The Indian might have been unaware of the fact that his oppontent, rated 2310, used to have 2400 and already possessed two IM norms.

Ali Bitalzadeh was born April 19, 1989 in Kosovo. His parents are from Iran, who were studying at the Univsersity of Pristina at the time. At the age of 6, Ali learnt chess from his father. Since 2000 he’s been living in The Netherlands. He won the Open Dutch Junior title once, finished shared first at the Dutch Junior Championship in 2001 and 2003 and finished 7th at a European Championship."