Azernews.Az

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Shamkir Chess super tournament, dedicated to the memory of Azerbaijani chess player Vugar Hashimov ended following the last 9th round.

The best grandmasters of the planet took part in this tournament of XXII category. The list included world champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Ding Liren (China), Anish Giri (Holland), former world champion Viswanathan Anand (India), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), World Cup winner Sergey Karjakin (Russia), former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria,), David Navara (Czech Republic), as well as local grandmasters Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Teymur Rajabov.

Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen (2845) had already formalized his championship in the 8th round.

Azerbaijani chess player Shahriyar Mammadyarov ended Shamkir Chess 2019 without victory. He made a draw with Russian Sergey Karjakin in the last 9th round and ranked 9th with 3.5 points.

Notably, Shahriyar Mammadyarov won the Shamkir Chess in 2016 and 2017. However, Magnus Carlsen won the remaining four competitions.

Considering results of the 9th round, Chinese Ding Liren shared the score with Dutch representative Anish Giri and Russian Alexander Grischuk lost to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in black.

David Navara (Czech Republic) and Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijan) could not identify the winner, and the game between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) also ended in a draw. So, Teymur Rajabov ranked 6th with 4.5 points.

The Shamkir Chess super-tournament, dedicated to the memory of Azerbaijani chess player Vugar Hashimov, was held with the support of SOCAR, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, with the partnership of Synergy Group.

It should be noted that last significant chess tournaments which took place in Azerbaijan were Azerbaijan Women's Chess Championship and Azerbaijan Man’s Chess Championship.

The winner of Azerbaijan Women's Chess Championship was Gunay Mammadzade. In Man’s Chess Championship first place was taken by Muhammad Muradli.

Vugar Gashimov was one of the world’s top players for a decade. His first significant tournament success was to win the U16 Kasparov Cup in 1999, which he did with a round to spare.

Gashimov became an international master in 1999 and earned the top title of grandmaster in 2002.

The 19 year-old GM took first place at Acropolis 2005 with 6.5/9 and won the category 18 Reggio Emilia in 2010. The Tata Steel 2012 became the last tournament in his life.

After his early successes, Gashimov had to put his activities on hold for a while for a surgery. His disease re-surfaced in 2011, causing him to suddenly lose consciousness during a match against the French national team in the European Championship. Then a long-term treatment in Switzerland and Germany began, but he failed to beat the disease.

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