Events Future: The Vugar Gashimov Memorial
The late Azeri grandmaster Vugar Gashimov was not just a tremendously strong player who died at a terribly early age, he was to all accounts very well-liked and admired as well. It is therefore fitting that just a few months after his death he is already being honored with a super-tournament in his memory. It is being held in Shamkir, in his native Azerbaijan, and will run from April 20-30. It is a six-player double-round robin, with the following players:
- Magnus Carlsen (2882)
- Fabiano Caruana (2783)
- Hikaru Nakamura (2772)
- Sergey Karjakin (2770)
- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2760)
- Teimour Radjabov (2713)
It's a great field of young stars, rightly including the world champion and Gashimov's two main contemporaries. It would be nice to see some sentimental story lines playing out: will anyone play the Modern Benoni? It has long had a slightly dodgy reputation at the highest levels, but Gashimov played it often and with great success. And can his countrymen rise to the occasion and win in his memory? I hope on this occasion that it happens, but we will see starting in just under a week.
Update: I should add that there's also a strong, concurrent B-event; a ten-player single round robin with Azeris Rauf Mamedov, Eltaj Safarli, Gadir Guseinov, Vasif Durarbayli, Nijat Abasov and foreigners Etienne Bacrot, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Wang Hao, Pavel Eljanov and Alexander Motylev.
Reader Comments (4)
Wow, that's a heckuva line-up for the B-tournament. Someone is providing good money to support this.
Wow, this looks like a great event! What a lineup of chess fighters in the A group! I expect a serious slugfest.
As noted above, the A group is world-class as well. What a great event this is going to be.
Everything I read about Gashimov said he was as nice a guy as you'd ever hope to meet, and he always played a fighting game of chess, so this tournament seems a fitting tribute.
I guess we are going to be seeing the top 4 for the next 20 years or so! sobering.
just as Anand, Ivanchuk, Kramnik and Topalov made their presence in the 1990s.
I for one hope Carlsen finishes in the middle. Humility has been greatly lacking in his recent interviews, something that a -2 will teach :-)
[DM: He is brimming with confidence, that's for sure. It's always possible that a painful lesson is in his future, but -2 is pretty close to impossible. :)]