By Nazrin Gadimova
The Shamkir Chess 2014 international tournament came to an end with the triumph of the reigning World Champion from Norway, Magnus Carlsen.
The grandiose event was held in commemoration of Azerbaijan’s late grandmaster Vugar Gashimov.
Defeating his main rival, Italian grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, in the final tenth round of the A tournament, Carlsen won the money prize provided by the Synergy Group in amount of €100,000.
The 24-year-old Norwegian chess player, who played with whites, sealed his win on the 49th move and scored 6.5 points, leaving behind world’s top grandmasters Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, three-time United States Chess Champion, Russian Sergey Karjakin, the World Rapid Chess Champion, and Azerbaijan’s Teymur Rajabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov, World Rapid Chess Champion.
Carlsen was reasonably happy with the final result but said he lacked energy even after he recovered from the losses. He said he would consider playing the event next year. Caruana was clearly a bit disappointed with the final round loss but second place was a great result for him.
The final standings were as follows: Carlsen – 6.5 points, Caruana – 5.5, Rajabov, Karjakin and Nakamura – 5, and Mammadyarov – 3.
In the B tournament, Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov won the €30,000 money prize after his draw with Azerbaijan’s Nijat Abbasov, leaving behind winner of the individual European Championship Alexander Motylev, Etienne Bacrot from France, Wang Hao from China, Radoslaw Wojtaszek from Poland, and Azerbaijan’s Rauf Mammadov, Gadir Huseynov, Vasif Durabeyli and Eltaj Safarli.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Vice Presidents of Azerbaijan’s Chess Federation Mahir Mammadov, Faig Hasanov, and Head of the Supervisory Board of Synergy Group Riad Huseynov spoke about the great sports achievements of Vugar Gashimov, who glorified Azerbaijan throughout the world.
Then the awarding ceremony was held, all the participants of both tournaments were invited to the stage and Riad Huseynov presented Cups to Magnus Carlsen and Pavel Eljanov.
Eljanov thanked the organizers of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial as well.
“It was my duty to take part in this tournament. I’m happy to have won this tournament honoring Vugar Gashimov, because he was a very strong chess player, and, most importantly, my friend; we spent a lot of time together,” he said.
World Cup Winner, Russian chess player Boris Gelfand shared his opinion on the Shamkir Chess 2014 international chess tournament, saying games played by the world’s top chess players are causing interest.
Speaking about Gashimov, Gelfand said the Azerbaijani grandmaster was a lovely and bright person.
“I remember Vugar as a kind, intelligent, and educated man with a good sense of humor and fine attitude towards people. He was bright and talented and an outstanding chess player who had to do a lot in chess. Unfortunately, he did not have time to do more,” the Russian chess player said.
Organized by JSC Synergy Group, the Shamkir Chess 2014 was held as part of the “State Program on development of chess in Azerbaijan in 2009-2014”.
Also, several events, including an interesting football match, were held as a part of the Shamkir Chess 2014.
The world team, which included Carlsen, who scored four goals, won in the final, leaving behind Synergy Group team. In the match for the third place, Azerbaijani journalists’ team defeated chess players of the Azerbaijani team.
Moreover, Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Rajabov and Sergey Karjakin played simul with children on 12 boards at the “Zaka” Youth Center as a part of the Memorial.
Karjakin and Rajabov won three games and one of the games ended in a draw. Shahriyar Mammadyarov played in a draw in all games. Then players visited the Flag Square and Flag Museum, where they familiarized with the exhibits on ancient and modern history of Azerbaijan.
The Shamkir Chess 2014, which brought together world-famous chess players, absorbed world’s attention. The members and guests of the tournament praised the organization of the event and expressed gratitude to all those who had participated in its implementation.
Born in Baku in 1986, Vugar Gashimov was taught to play chess by his father at the age of six. He became Azerbaijan’s champion three times: in 1995, 1996, and 1998. He was also the silver medalist of the European youth championship four times (1996-2000).
The Azerbaijani grandmaster played for Azerbaijan’s national team in Chess Olympiads in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, and was a member of the Azerbaijani team that played against the world team in Baku in the Cup of the Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan on May 7-9, 2009.
Gashimov won a bronze medal in the European Team Championship in 2007, and became the European Champion with the national team in 2009 (it was Vugar who provided his team with a decisive point in the final round). He also became the European vice-champion in the national team in 2011, and the winner of the Reggio Emilia tournament in 2010-2011.
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 resurfaced in 2011, when he suddenly lost 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 in early 2014.
The tragic news about the international grandmaster’s death shocked the majority of Azerbaijanis and almost the entire sports community.
Source: http://www.azernews.az
Nakamura is the best hope to beat Carlsen.
To concentrate only on wins, losses, and draws is to miss much of Nakamura’s dominance of the game. Standings in tournaments tell such an incomplete story.