Traditional chess tournament honouring grandmaster Gashimov starts in Baku

The traditional chess tournament in memory of the deceased Azerbaijani chess player Vugar Gashimov starts on December 18 in Baku and will continue until December 24.

Ten chess players will participate in the championship, namely Azerbaijan's players Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Rauf Mammadov, Abdulla Gadimbayli and Aydin Suleymanli, as well as Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Wang Hao (China), Richard Rapport (Romania), Domaraju Gukes (India), Samuel Shankland (USA) and Francisco Vallejo (Spain), as published on the tournament's official website.

The first three days will be played out as "Rapid" games, after which the tournament will continue with "Blitz" rounds with the pairings for the first rounds to be announced after the draw on December 18.

The tournament, which will be held at the Fairmont Baku hotel and is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, has been held annually since 2014 after the death of the young and talented Gashimov. 

In the mid-90s Gashimov, born July 24, 1986 started to become known in Azerbaijan as a big talent. He won several Youth Championships and in 1996 he finished second in the World U10, behind Pentala Harikrishna. In 2008 his breakthrough into the world elite started with his win of the Cappelle la Grande tournament and participated in the first FIDE Grand Prix Series in 2008-2010.  

He was the youngest international chess master in the World in 1998. He immediately shared first place with Wang Yue and Magnus Carlsen in the very first Grand Prix in Baku. 

Unfortunately, due to his serious health problems, Gashimov had to leave off chess for a long time and undergo several brain surgeries. Nevertheless, thanks to his strong willpower, ambition to play again and win he returned to the chess world in 2005 and was victorious. He defeated the Acropol Open, being strong in terms of the staff, in Athens. He won with his prominent team, defeating 19 grandmasters in Abu-Dhabi, in 2006. 

Gashimov played for the Azerbaijan Olympic team four times (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008) and his total score was 28.5 point out of 41 games (+18 , =17 , -6). His highest position in the world rankings was #6, in November 2009. He was also known as a very strong online blitz player.

He passed away on January 11th, 2014 in Heidelberg city, Germany. He has been buried at the 3rd Honorary Alley in Baku. Besides the tournament, a Chess Academy in Baku has been named after Vugar Gashimov, which opened in 2016.