Shamkir 2015 Chess tournament scheduled for April

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

A grandiose sport event-- Shamkir 2015 International Chess Tournament-- devoted to Azerbaijan's late grandmaster Vugar Gashimov is scheduled for April 16-26 in the country’s Shamkir region.

The event is expected to attract much world's attention with many famous world and local grandmasters including Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Teymur Rajabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov as well as Rauf Mammadov, the last winner of the Azerbaijani championship, who will compete for the best title.

The 10-day tournament organized by the Synergy Group will be held at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Shamkir and will be streamed live in three languages. Anar Allahverdiyev, Vugar's former coach and grandmasters Farid Abbasov will comment on the event in Azerbaijani, while Viorel Iordachescu will cover the event in Russian and Yevgeniy Miroshnichenko in English.

The tournament's website www.shamkirchess.az will be presented to the public soon with all detailed information. The website visitors will be able to watch the games live. Moreover, they will have a chance to see the matches on www.chess.com website.

The first Shamkir Chess tournament was held in 2014, with the triumph of the reigning World Champion from Norway, Magnus Carlsen, who won the money prize provided by the Synergy Group - €100,000.

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 the 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.