Teen chess champion mugged
A teenage chess sensation was mugged by an eight-strong gang shortly after taking part in a major competition.
Grandmaster Farhad Tahirov, 19, was kicked and punched and had £1,000 stolen from him by the gang after the 82nd Hastings International Chess Congress.
It happened as he walked along Harold Road, Hastings, at about 8pm on January 5.
Mr Tahirov said: “I couldn’t believe something like this could happen in England.
“I have travelled in many countries over the last ten years and have never experienced anything like this.
“I don’t know if I’ll be coming back to Hastings.”
Here is the full report. 
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Yes, he should leave for the relative safety of Moscow where everyone needs bodyguards to keep from getting killed.
And who needs 8 people to mug a chess player? 8 5-year-olds could mug a chess player.
Most likely friends of a close competitor in the tournament.
I’m not trying to blame the victim here, but I do wonder a) why he was carrying ₤1000 around in his pocket and b) what kind of neighborhood had he wandered into.
If youre traveling in a foreign country, you would have to carry some cash too. ₤1000 isnt excessive.
And this isnt a discussion on the relative safety of different cities around the world.
This is about our fellow chess player getting mugged and it is totally wrong.
There’s something really wrong with the people who posted above. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are british – after all being isolated on a dark, rainy and windy island for too long gets the gene pool and the brain all messed up.
Anyways, this article just shows once again that England should do a lot of catching up if it wants to be recognized as a civilized country. Dealing with crime and fixing up the mentality of the people might be a hard issue, but installing mixers for hot and cold water in the sinks might be a good place to start. 🙂
I would hope that some loving soul would give him the 1000 pounds. Maybe the tournament itself or some rich person. It would seem a little thing for England to do for its guests.
I lived in Hastings for some years, it is not the sweet little picture-postcard town the local tourist office (and English Heritage) likes to promote. It has relatively serious drug and social problems, and all in all, I thought the town was rather depressed. At night it gets especially dodgy down on the seafront towards the eastern end of Hastings, near the games/leisure arcades.
I’m sorry that our “Teen Chess Player” was mugged, but it is slightly crazy to carry around £1,000 in cash – especially in a place that you’re not particularly familar with.
Let Farhad Tahirov better explain how he has earned his Grandmaster title and in which tournaments he has earned his ranking (which is at least 250 points more than his real strength). And, therefore, how many Euro or $ has he already stolen from the honest chessplayers and organizers by getting good conditions in tournaments like Hastings?
I played at Hastings and Farhad pulled out before the end, although I heard he checked first that he would get his condition money. I heard he was in isolation in hospital with a nasty rash, at one point in the tournament and was on medication which made him sleepy during his games.
I wonder if the mugging had something to do with some idiots who were aggreviated by him not playing all his games and receiving condition money…
Of course, I’m not saying someone who knew he was carrying money had anything to do with it, but I think the odds of them mugging someone who’d just been given a large amount of cash by the tournament is very low, without prior knowledge.
A player who had bought his GM title in fake tournaments in Russia and then unduly gets conditions money is a cheater and should be punished for his cheating. Check his FIDE card if you have doubts.