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Azerbaijan to host World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2020

21 January 2020 17:58 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan to host World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad 2020

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan region will host World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad 2020 on 2-12 October, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) reported in its official website.

Earlier, the 42nd Chess Olympiad (also known as the Baku Chess Olympiad), was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 1–14 September 2016. The forthcoming Olympiad in Nakhchivan will be the first such a large-scale chess event since 2016.

Note that the Nakhchivan Open International Tournament takes place annually.

In 2019, Azerbaijani players become the winners of the FIDE World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad held in Corum, Turkey. Later, Azerbaijan appealed to FIDE with a proposal to hold a similar competition in Nakhchivan.

Note that the 44th World Chess Olympiad among adults will be held this year in Moscow on 5-18 August 2020.

For centuries, chess has been a popular game in Azerbaijan. The country could preserve chess traditions as the chess remains to be a very popular sport in Azerbaijan today.

Since Azerbaijan gained its independence, Azerbaijani chess players have achieved high results in various international competitions, world and European championships.

In 1992, the national team of women for the first time at the World Chess Olympiad in Manila, Philippines represented independent Azerbaijan and ranked 7th among 67 teams.

In 1993, the women team won bronze medals at the European Championship held in Debrecen, Hungary.

In 2007, the national team of men won bronze medals in European Championship held in Greece.

Men's team won the title of “Europe’s strongest team” in Serbia in 2009, won silver medals in 2011 in Greece and in 2013 in Poland.

In 2012 and 2014, the men's team “SOCAR-Azerbaijan” won inter-club European Championships twice. Azerbaijani grandmasters Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Radjabov and Vugar Hashimov managed to rise to the 4th and 6th places in the world rankings.

Radjabov became the first owner of the World Chess Cup in the history of Azerbaijan on October 4, 2019, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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