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Summer 2005
(13.2)
Page
16
Chess
- President's Cup
Teymur Rajabov, Again, Victory!
  Left: Teymur Rajabov, Gold Winner, in the President's
Cup Chess Tournament in Baku in May 2005.
For the first time in Azerbaijan's
history, the Republican Chess Center organized what is known
as the President's Cup tournament in Baku. The event was dedicated
to the memory of the late President Heydar Aliyev and took place
on the eve of his birthday-May 1-8. The Award Ceremony followed
on May 9 at the Republican Chess Center at 42 Husi Hajiyev Street
in downtown Baku.
Aliyev had always been very supportive of chess and, in fact,
it was because of his support that Garry Kasparov became the
World Champion in 1985 while living in Baku. Kasparov, now 42,
lives in Russia. Kasparov held that title for more than 10 years
and though he is no longer World Champion, FIDE (Federation Internationale
des Echecs, known in English as World Chess Federation) still
ranks him as No. 1 in the world (as of April 2005).
The President's Cup Chess Tournament attracted Azerbaijan's highest
level of professional chess players, many of whom are young Grand
Masters and who have participated in chess competitions on an
international level.
The tournament drew 32 participants, both men and women. There
was no age limit. The winners were selected using the Olympic
system, meaning that whenever a person lost, he or she was eliminated
from the competition.
 Left: Top three winners of the President's Cup Chess
Tournament. Left: Teymur Rajabov (1st), Shahriyar Mammadyarov
(2nd) and Gadir Huseinov (3rd).
Cash prizes and plane tickets
were awarded to the top eight players. Teymur Rajabov [often
spelled as "Teimour Radjabov" via Russian on the Internet],
took First Place and won the Gold Cup. Since childhood, Teymur
has been called a chess prodigy. When he was only 13 years old,
he qualified as an International Grand Master, making him the
youngest person in the world ever to achieve this rank. Rajabov,
now 18, won the Bronze Medal at the 2005 FIDE World Championship.
Other winners of the 2005 President's Cup included Shahriyar
Mammadyarov (2nd), Gadir Huseinov (3rd), Anar Allahverdiyev (4th),
Rasul Ibrahimov (5th), Rashad Babayev (6th), Nijat Mammadov (7th)
and Rufat Baghirov (8th).
Although four women participated in the event, none of them ranked,
although some have won international competitions in the past.
The President Cup tournament attracted the support of 18 entities:
Ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism, Azercell, BP, Azpetrol,
Lider TV, Azeurotel, Nexus, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, AZAL
Airlines, Thames Insurance, M Building, Azerigazbank, Garadagh,
Panasonic, Tyco, Bank Standard and Glencore. Azercell was the
primary sponsor of the event.
According to Emin Mirhashimov, who spearheaded the event as Director
of the Republican Chess Center, the total amount of cash prizes
came to 50,000,000 manats (approximately $10,000). In addition
to the awards and prizes, the sponsors also helped to repair
the Chess Center, by replacing the flooring, buying new tables
and supplying air conditioners. Mirhashahimov, on behalf of the
Center, expressed his deepest appreciation to these companies
for helping to create better facility conditions and for making
the tournament a successful event.
Related Web Sites
Azerbaijan's Republican Chess Center [in Russian] at CHESSCLUB.az.
Related articles in Azerbaijan
International magazine
Search at AZER.com.
(1) "Kasparov,
World Chess Champion: Ten Years and Counting" by Anne
Kressler, AI 3.3 (Autumn 1995).
(2) "Computer
Challenges: World's Chess Champion. IBM's Deep Blue to Play Garry
Kasparov" by Marcus Hopkins, AI 3.3 (Autumn 1995).
(3) "Teymur
Rajabov: All the Right Moves, Teymur Rajabov, International Chess
Master" by Farida Sadikhova, AI 7.4 (Winter 1999).
(4) "Teymur
Beats Former Chess World Champion Garry Kasparov" by
Jean Patterson, AI 10.3 (Autumn 2002).
Back to Index AI 13.2 (Summer
2005)
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