Baku hosts National Chess Championship

The National Chess Championship Among Boys and Girls has been held in Baku, Azernews reports. The tournament was held among chess players under 14, 16, and 18 years old.

Dinara Huseynova, who scored 8.5 points, and Pasham Alizade, who scored 9 points, became the champions among participants under 14 years of age.

Saadat Bashirli, who represented Ganja, ranked second, while Yunis Mahmudzade won a silver medal in the championship of boys under 14 years of age.

Maryam Agaverdiyeva closed the top three with 8 points. Kanan Isbatov was the bronze medalist with 7.5 points.

Sumgayit chess player Nurten Nuriyeva, who scored 10 points during the tournament, won the title of winner among girls under 16 years of age.

Leyla Budagova, a student at the Ganja Chess School, took second place with 9.5 points. Ayan Huseynli took third place with 8 points.

In this age category, Tunar Davudov finished the tournament in first place with 9.5 points.

Shaki chess players Islam Hajialiyev and Said Zeynalov shared the second and third places, respectively. Shiroglan Talibov scored the most points in the under-18 boys competition - 7.5 points. Sahin Valiyev was awarded a silver medal, and Orkhan Bagirov a bronze medal.

At the closing ceremony of the competition, the First Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, Faig Hasanov, congratulated the winners and prize-winners. He wished them success in international competitions.

The chess players who took the first three places in the national championships were awarded diplomas and medals of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The winners of the championship will be sent to the world championship in the respective age groups, and the second place chess players will be sent to the European championship.

The national championship was jointly organised by the Azerbaijan Chess Federation and the Azerbaijan Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The Azerbaijan Chess Federation was founded in 1920. Elman Rustamov has been president of the National Chess Federation since 2007.

The national chess players have always taken high places at top-ranked tournaments.

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

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.

Nijat Abasov reached his all-time-highest rating of 2677 and was ranked No. 3 in Azerbaijan and No. 59 in the world as of 2023.

In the FIDE World Cup 2023, Abasov found himself face-to-face with Magnus Carlsen, widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time.

The match between these two chess prodigies was an unforgettable display of strategic brilliance.

Gulnar Mammadova holds the titles of International master and Woman Grandmaster. She won the women's section of the Azerbaijani Chess Championship in 2021.

In the 2016 Women's Chess Olympiad, Mammadova won the individual gold medal for the best performance on board 3.

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 the 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, including two silvers.

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

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