Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov ( az, Vüqar Qasım oğlu Həşimov; 24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014), known internationally as Vugar Gashimov , was an

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

grandmaster. He was a noted player of

blitz chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...

. At his peak

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

, he was No. 6 in the world, achieved in November 2009. He won the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

2005 ( Acropolis International), and tied for first at the

Cappelle-la-Grande open The Cappelle-la-Grande Open is a chess tournament held every year in Cappelle-la-Grande, France, since 1985. It is usually played in the second half of February with an accelerated Swiss-system format in nine rounds. It is organized by the chess ...

in 2007, he again tied for first and was winning it on tie-break in 2008. He won the strong and traditional invitation tournament at

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abo ...

in 2010–11 on tie-break above Francisco Vallejo Pons.

Early life

Gashimov was born on 24 July 1986 in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

. He was the son of a retired army colonel who served at the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

Chess career

In 2010, Gashimov won the Reggio Emilia chess tournament.

Team competitions

Gashimov played for Azerbaijan in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

s of 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. He played in the gold medal-winning Azerbaijani team at the European Team Chess Championship in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...

in 2009, alongside

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the world ...

Teimour Radjabov Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; az, Teymur Boris oğlu Rəcəbov, ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster, ranked number 18 in the world A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster ...

Rauf Mammadov Rauf Mamedov ( az, Rauf Məmmədov; born 26 April 1988) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster and a three-time national champion. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015. Career Born in Baku, Mamedov started playing chess ...

and

Gadir Guseinov Gadir Guseinov ( az, Qədir Hüseynov; born 21 May 1986) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked as No. 3 in Azerbaijan. Career Born in Moscow, Guseinov started playing chess under the guidance of Shahin Hajiev. He lived in his ...

, previously winning bronze medal in 2007. In 2010, however, he did not represent his country at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk due to a conflict with the national chess federation and former team coach Zurab Azmaiparashvili.

Playing style

Gashimov was known as a particularly strong

player. At the peak of his playing career, he revived the fortunes of the Modern Benoni, an opening that had become unpopular at the top level of chess, and used it to get good results against strong grandmasters, including even the leading players of the time, such as

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates ...

(see § Notable games).

Personal life

He was known to enjoy football, table tennis and pool. He was also an avid fan of

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

movies. He was managed by his older brother Sarkhan, an IT manager who is also a master-level chess player.

Death and aftermath

Death

Doctors diagnosed Gashimov with

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

when he fell ill in February 2000, and shortly afterwards, discovered a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

. While receiving treatment for the brain tumor in a hospital in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

, Germany, Gashimov died in the early hours of 11 January 2014. He had been inactive from chess since playing in the

Tata Steel Chess Tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

in January 2012.Vugar Gashimov, 1986 – 2014''
/ref> He was buried at the Alley of Honor in Baku.

Reaction

Chess grandmasters and sports professionals around the world reacted to Gashimov's death. Teimour Radjabov, one of Gashimov's closest teammates, said that he could not find "words to explain the deepest sorrow".

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the ...

described Gashimov as "a brilliant player and great guy." Former world champion

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

said he was "deeply saddened", and found it "remarkable considering the medical obstacles he faced" that he made it to the top ten in the FIDE rating list.

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

described Gashimov as "one of the most talented and original players I've met. He was always friendly with everyone and always smiling. I have many good memories with him from tournaments, especially in the Amber tournaments." Tributes also came from famous chess players such as

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraLevon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A chess prodigy, he earned the titl ...

Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (russian: Алекса́ндра Константи́новна Костеню́к; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian chess grandmaster who is the former Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021, and the fo ...

Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the yo ...

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken ...

and many others. One minute of silence was held at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament and during all tournaments held in

in January 2014.

Azerbaijani President The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies" ...

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

said, "Vugar Gashimov's services to the Azerbaijani sports are unmatched. Vugar Gashimov made an incomparable contribution to development of Azerbaijan's chess school, and glorified the country with his brilliant victories."

Legacy

The first Gashimov Memorial took place in

Şəmkir Shamkir ( az, Şəmkir), known historically as Annenfeld, is a city in and the capital of Shamkir District in western Azerbaijan, located in the northern foothills of the Lesser Caucasus, on the coast of the Chagirchay River on Tbilisi-Yevlakh h ...

in April 2014, with participants

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United St ...

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraÉtienne Bacrot Étienne Bacrot (; born 22 January 1983) is a French chess grandmaster, and as a child, a chess prodigy. He competed at the Candidates Matches in 2007 and won the Aeroflot Open in 2009. He passed 2700 FIDE rating in 2004 and in January 2005 ...

, Wang Hao, Rauf Mamedov,

Qadir Huseynov Gadir Guseinov ( az, Qədir Hüseynov; born 21 May 1986) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. he is ranked as No. 3 in Azerbaijan. Career Born in Moscow, Guseinov started playing chess under the guidance of Shahin Hajiev. He lived in his n ...

Pavel Eljanov Pavel Eljanov ( uk, Павло Володимирович Ельянов, translit=Pavlo Volodymyrovych Elyanov; born 10 May 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Oly ...

, Radosław Wojtaszek,

Alexander Motylev Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev (russian: Александр Анатольевич Мотылёв; born 17 June 1979) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was Russian champion in 2001 and European champion in 2014. Motylev is also Sergey Karjakin ...

Eltaj Safarli Eltaj Safarli ( az, Eltac Səfərli; born 18 May 1992 in Baku) is an Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. In October 2016, he reached his all-time-highest rating of 2694 and was ranked as No. 3 in Azerbaijan and No. 46 in the world. He entered tourn ...

Nijat Abasov Nijat Azad oglu AbasovGrandmaster title application
FIDE (born 14 May 1995) is an Azer ...

, and

Vasif Durarbayli Vasif Durarbayli ( az, Vasif Durarbəyli; born February 24, 1992) is an Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. He received the International Master title in 2007 and the Grandmaster Title in 2010. Academic career Vasif received his high-school degree ...

. On 24 July 2014, a monument was unveiled on his grave in Baku.

Notable tournament victories

* Reggio Emilia chess tournament 2010, 1st * Cappelle la Grande, tied for 1st in 2007 and 2008 (winning as first on tie-break)

Notable games

Vugar Gashimov vs Gata Kamsky, Baku Grand Prix 2008, Spanish Game: Closed Variations
( ECO C84), 1–0
Vugar Gashimov vs Andrei Volokitin, Poikovsky Tournament 2008, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation (ECO B96), 1–0Vugar Gashimov vs Alexander Grischuk, Elista Grand Prix 2008, Sicilian Defense: Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn Variation (ECO B97), 1–0Vugar Gashimov vs Alexander Beliavsky, Gibtelecom 2009, Spanish Game: Closed Variations (ECO C84), 1–0Alexander Grischuk vs Vugar Gashimov, Amber Tournament (Rapid) 2010, Modern Benoni: Fianchetto Variation (ECO A62), 0–1

Notes

References

External links

*
Vugar Gashimov at 365Chess.comInterview with Vugar Gashimov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gashimov, Vugar 1986 births 2014 deaths Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Chess players from Baku Burials at Alley of Honor People with epilepsy Neurological disease deaths in Germany Deaths from cancer in Germany Deaths from brain tumor Burials at II Alley of Honor