Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani chess players have climbed in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) ranking list, Azernews reports.

Azerbaijani chess player Teymur Rajabov moved up 5 steps and took 11th place (2,747 points), while Shahriyar Mammadyarov went down 1 step and took 14th place with 2,741 points. Gadir Huseynov (2,661 points) is 86th, Nijat Abbasov (2,646 points) is 100th, and Rauf Mammadov (2,646 points) is 102nd.

Among female chess players, Govhar Beydullayeva advanced 36 steps and ranked 62nd (2,387 points). Gunay Mammadzade (2,472 points) is 20th, Ulviyya Fataliyeva (2,428 points) is 37th, Khanum Balajayeva (2,379 points) is 73rd, Gulnar Mammadova (2,376 points) is 78th.

Shahriyar Mammadyarov is a three-fold European Team Champion (2009, 2013, and 2017) and gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board.

He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2003 and repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, achieving a 2,953 performance rating after eight rounds.

After winning the Essent Tournament in 2006, Shahriyar achieved world fame.

In June 2016, Mammadyarov won the 3rd Vugar Gashimov Memorial Shamkir Chess Tournament.

He defeated Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tie-break situation with Caruana. He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him a tournament victory.

In 2021, Mammadyarov defeated the 13-time world champion, Garry Kasparov, at the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb (Croatia).

Teymur Rajabov earned the title of a grandmaster at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time. He defeated Kasparov back in 2003.

In 2003, Rajabov gained international fame after beating the then world No 1 Garry Kasparov in the Linares tournament, followed by victories over former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov all in the same year.

He also won the European Team Chess Championship with Azerbaijan in 2009, 2013, and 2017.

His major individual achievements include joint first place at the 2008 Elista Grand Prix, the 2017 Geneva Grand Prix, and the 2019 FIDE World Cup.

Govhar Beydullayeva has gone down in history as the first woman grandmaster to become the world champion among 20-year-olds in the history of Azerbaijani chess.

Beydullayeva drew with Zala Urh (Slovenia) and Laman Hajiyeva with Livia Jarocka (Poland) at World Junior Chess Championship U20. She secured a gold medal in the world championship of under-20 chess players.

Govhar Beydullayeva repeatedly represented Azerbaijan at the European Youth Chess Championships and World Youth Chess Championships in different age groups, where she won three medals and two silver.

In 2021, she won a silver medal among women in Serbia Open Masters tournament held in Belgrade, Serbia.

Govhar Beydullayeva also repeatedly participated in Azerbaijan national women's chess championships, where she won 4 medals: gold in 2022, silver in the years of 2020 and 2021, and bronze in 2019.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz