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Laman Ismayilova

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Azerbaijani chess players will take part in 2025 Reykjavik Open on April 9-15, Azernews reports. Eltaj Safarli and Mahammad Muradli officially registered for the event.

The Reykjavik Open is an annual chess tournament that takes place in the capital city of Iceland. It was held every two years up to 2008, currently it runs annually.

The first edition was held in 1964 and was won by Mikhail Tal with a score of 12.5 points out of 13.

The tournament is currently played with the Swiss system, while from 1964 to 1980 and in 1992 it was a round-robin tournament.

The 2025 Reykjavik Open is a nine-round Swiss tournament. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move.

Over 400 players have registered for the chess tournament. The 2025 Reykjavik Open features a €17,350 prize fund. Chessable is also offering multiple prizes for winners in different categories.

The Reykjavik Open will take place at the Harpa concert hall and conference center in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Eltaj Safarli is a chess grandmaster from Azerbaijan. In October 2016, he achieved his highest rating of 2694, ranking him No. 3 in Azerbaijan and No. 46 in the world.

He began participating in tournaments at the age of 6, experiencing modest success initially. Safarli secured victories in the Azerbaijan Championships in both 2010 and 2016. Additionally, he won the World Youth Chess Championship for under 10s in Heraklion in 2002.

Safarli was a member of the Azerbaijani team that won a silver medal at the European Team Chess Championship held in Porto Carras in 2011. He competed alongside notable players Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Rajabov, Vugar Hashimov, and Gadir Huseynov.

Mahammad Muradli is a two-time national champion. In 2019, Muradli played for the Azerbaijan team in the World Youth Chess Olympiad and the team became an Olympic champion. He also won Azerbaijani championships in 2019 and 2022.

In July 2022, Muradli became winner of the 2022 Biel MTO edition with a score of 7.0/9 and a rating performance of 2726.

In October 2023, at the world blitz chess championship among boys and girls under the age of 20, held on the island of Sardinia, Italy, Mahammad Muradli scored 9.5 points from 11 games and was awarded the gold medal ahead of all his opponents and won the title of world champion.