Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

An international tournament devoted to Azerbaijan's late grandmaster Vugar Gashimov is set to be held in Baku.

The Under -12 memorial tournament is to be held on the birthday of the great son of Azerbaijan on July 24. If Vugar was alive, he would celebrate his 28th birthday this year.

The event will bring together about 100 chess players from Russia, France, Georgia, Turkey, Iran and other countries. The tournament will run in nine rounds and the first round of the game is scheduled for July 25.

The tournament will wrap up on August 2.

The winner will have the opportunity to participate in the European Youth Chess Championship to be held in Batumi in October 18-29. Meanwhile, the silver medalist will be invited to Baku Open tournament and the holder of the third place would take part in Nakhchivan Open tournament.

This will be the second tournament devoted to prominent Azerbaijani grandmaster and European Champion of 2009 Vugar Gashimov, who was known as a strong player in blitz.

The first memorial tournament was held in Shamkir on April 19-30. The event that
brought together world's top chess players ended with the victory of Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.

Vugar Gashimov, together with grandmasters Teymur Rajabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov, was considered one of Azerbaijan's top chess players.

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.
Vugar Gashimov passed away on January 11, 2014.

The tragic death of the international grandmaster shocked the majority of Azerbaijanis and almost the entire sports community.