Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The date of Shamkir Chess 2018 international tournament dedicated to the memory of late Azerbaijani GM Vugar Gashimov has been revealed.

The chess tournament will be held in Shamkir on April 18-29.

The grandmaster’s brother Sarkhan Hashimov said that chess players with the best performance in FIDE rating will be invited to the competition.

“In addition to Magnus Carlsen, many leading grandmasters of the world, Shahriyar Mammadyarov, who is second in the FIDE rankings, as well as Teymur Rajabov and Rauf Mammadov are expected to participate in the jubilee tournament," he said.

Notably, both Magnus Carlsen and Shahriyar Mammadyarov have become champions twice in previous four tournaments in Shamkir.

Shahriyar Mammadyarov scored amazing victories last two years.

The Shamkir Chess is played in memory of Vugar Gashimov, a talented Azerbaijani grandmaster and world-class player who died in 2014 at the age of 27.

Vugar was one of the world’s top players for a decade. His first significant tournament success was to win the U16 Kasparov Cup in 1999, which he did with a round to spare.

Gashimov became an international master in 1999 and earned the top title of grandmaster in 2002.

The 19 year-old GM took first place at Acropolis 2005 with 6.5/9 and won the category 18 Reggio Emilia in 2010. The Tata Steel 2012 became the last tournament in his life.

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.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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