World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to visit Baku
By Nazrin Gadimova
World Chess Champion, Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen will arrive in Baku on April 17.
Carlsen will visit the country to compete in Shamkir Chess 2014 tournament commemorating Azerbaijani grandmaster Vugar Gashimov.
Along with the Norwegian chess player, Shamkir tournament will see Fabiano Caruana, ranking fifth in the international FIDE rating, from Italy; Hikaru Nakamura, who is ranked seventh in the same rating, from the USA; Russia's Sergey Karyakin, as well as Azerbaijani grandmasters and European champions Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Teymur Rajabov.
Prominent Azerbaijani grandmaster and European Champion of 2009 Vugar Gashimov was known as a strong player in blitz. Together with Teymur Rajabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov, he was considered one of Azerbaijan's elite chess players.
After his early successes, Gashimov had to put his activities on hold for a while and have surgery. The 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.
Vugar Gashimov passed away as a result of serious disease on January 11, 2014. The tragic news about the death of the international grandmaster has shocked the majority of Azerbaijanis and almost the entire sports community.