Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov ( az, Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

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 is ranked No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 13 in the

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player in chess history. Mamedyarov has competed in the Candidates Tournament in 2011 (eliminated in quarterfinals), in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

(placing fourth) and in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

(placing second). He is a two-time World Junior Champion (2003 and 2005) and was World Rapid Champion in 2013. A gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board, he is a three-time European Team Champion (2009, 2013, 2017) with Azerbaijan. He is also a two-time winner at

Tal Memorial The Tal Memorial is an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992). Many of the world's strongest players compete. In 2014 it w ...

(2010 joint and 2014 Blitz) and

Shamkir Chess Gashimov Memorial is a chess supertournament played in Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014). Winners 2014 The Gashimov Memorial 2014 took place in the Haydar Aliev Centre in Shamkir City from 16 April to 30 April 2014, consisting o ...

(2016 and 2017), as well as the winner of 2018

Biel Chess Festival The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Piet ...

where he beat reigning World Champion

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 ...

Personal life

Shakhriyar's parents are from the

Zangilan District Zangilan District ( az, Zəngilan rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-west of the country and belongs to the East Zangezur Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Qubadli, Jabrayil, the S ...

of Azerbaijan. In 1980, his family moved to the then-flourishing industrial city of

Sumqayit Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city has a population of around 345,300, making it the second largest city in Azerbaijan after Bak ...

, Azerbaijan, where Shakhriyar was born. His first chess trainer was his father, who is also a former boxer and taught boxing to Shakhriyar for some time. Mamedyarov has two sisters, Zeinab Mamedyarova and Turkan Mamedyarova, who are

Woman Grandmaster FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

s. Mamedyarov got married in 2012, but later divorced. He remarried in July 2017.

Professional chess career

In 2003 he won the

World Junior Chess Championship The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament (players must have been under 20 years old on 1 January in the year of competition) organized by the World Chess Federation (FIDE). The idea was the brainchild of William Rits ...

. He repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, achieving a 2953 performance rating after eight rounds, earning an invitation to the Essent Tournament 2006 in Hoogeveen, and after winning this and the 2007 edition, Mamedyarov achieved world fame. In 2005 Mamedyarov competed at the European Club Cup and had the second-highest performance rating (2913), after Vassily Ivanchuk, of all of the participants. Mamedyarov attained joint first place at the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid Rapids are sections ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in February 2006, with a score of 6½/9. In May he won the combined FiNet/Ordix rapid event. In October 2006, he won the closed Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen with 4½/6, beating

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 ...

on Sonneborn-Berger tie-breaks. At the

Chess World Cup 2007 The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2010. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In an event att ...

Mamedyarov reached the third round where he was knocked out by

Ivan Cheparinov Ivan Cheparinov (; born November 26, 1986) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He is a four-time Bulgarian champion (2004, 2005, 2012, 2018). Cheparinov competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2015 and 2017. In 2018 he switched his na ...

. In 2008 he won the Corsican Circuit rapid knockout. In 2009 he won the Mainz Ordix Open with 10/11. In 2010, he tied for first place with Vladimir Kramnik and

Gata Kamsky Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion. Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cha ...

at the President's Cup in Baku, followed by joint first in the

. In June 2013, Mamedyarov won the

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under fast chess, rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recogn ...

, scoring 11½/15. The next month he won the Geneva Masters rapid event. In November 2014, he won the Tal Memorial for the second time. In June 2016, Mamedyarov won the 3rd

Tournament, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. He defeated both top seeds

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 Sta ...

and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tiebreak situation with Caruana. He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him tournament victory. In April 2017, Mamedyarov won the Vugar Gashimov Memorial for the second year in a row with a score of 5½/9. In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of the Gashimov Memorial, finishing fourth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7). From 28 May to 7 June 2018, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing seventh with 3½/8 (+0–1=7). From 22 July 2018 to 1 August, he competed in the 51st Biel Chess Festival, winning the event by one-and-a-half points ahead of

. He defeated Carlsen in round 9 with the white pieces of a King's Indian, Fianchetto Variation. On 14 June 2020, Mamedyarov won Sharjah online Chess tournament with 7.5 points from 10 rounds which is his first online tournament win. On 26 June 2020, Mamedyarov placed 2nd-6th in the 1st Mukhtar Ismagambetov Memorial along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Dmitriy Bocharov, Kazybek Nogerbek, and Davit Maghalashvili, with a score of 8.5/11. In June 2021, Mamedyarov won Superbet Chess Classic tournament in which Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So participated. Through February and March 2022, Mamedyarov played in the

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022,

. In the second leg, he placed second in Pool D with a 3/6 result. In the third leg, he won his pool with a result of 3.5/6 and a 3/4 result in rapid and blitz tiebreakers against Vincent Keymer.

World Championship cycles

In 2011, Mamedyarov was the tournament organisers' nominee, qualifying him for the Candidates Tournament for the

World Chess Championship 2012 The World Chess Championship 2012 was a chess match between the defending World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Boris Gelfand of Israel, winner of the 2011 Candidates Tournament. After sixteen games, including four rapid games, Anand ...

, where he lost to

Boris Gelfand Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...

in the first round. In the 2014 cycle, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament by coming second in the

FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13 The FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13 was a series of six chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2014. Veselin Topalov finished first, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov second in the overall standings. Both ...

. He finished fourth in the Candidates, with a score of 7/14. He failed to qualify for the 2016 Candidates. He came sixth in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, and was knocked out in the quarter finals of the

Chess World Cup 2015 The Chess World Cup 2015 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 10 September to 5 October 2015. Sergey Karjakin won the competition on tie-breaks after a four-game final against Peter Svidler. Both fi ...

by eventual winner

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 ...

. In the 2018 cycle, he qualified for the

Candidates Tournament 2018 The Candidates Tournament 2018 was an eight-player double round-robin chess tournament, which was held in Berlin, Germany, between 10–28 March 2018. The winner, Fabiano Caruana, earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnu ...

by winning the

FIDE Grand Prix 2017 The FIDE Grand Prix 2017 was a series of four chess tournaments that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2018. The top two finishers, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk, qualified to the 2018 Candi ...

. He finished as a runner-up in Candidates one point behind Caruana, with a score of 8/14. In the 2020 cycle, he failed to qualify for Candidates, finishing fourth in FIDE Grand Prix 2019, and being knocked out in the Fourth round of Chess World Cup 2019, by

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 Grandmaste ...

. In the 2022 cycle, he failed to qualify for Candidates, finishing seventh in

, and being knocked out in the Third round of

Chess World Cup 2021 The Chess World Cup 2021 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, beginning 12 July and ending 6 August 2021. It was the 9th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner of this tournament was the Polis ...

, by Haik Martirosyan.

Team competitions

He played for Azerbaijan at 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 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2009, 2013 and 2017 he won the team gold medal for Azerbaijan at the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

, having won the bronze medal in 2007 and silver in 2011.

Tournament victories

Tournament victories by Mamedyarov include: * 2022 ShushaChess, 1st * 2021 Superbet Chess Classic, 1st * 2018

, 1st * 2017 FIDE Grand Prix, 1st * 2017 Gashimov Memorial (4th annual

tournament) * 2016 Gashimov Memorial (3rd annual

tournament) * 2014

(Blitz), 1st * 2013 Beijing FIDE Grand Prix 2012–2013, 1st * 2013 Geneva Chess Masters, Rapid (knock-out format), 1st * 2013

Khanty-Mansiysk, 1st * 2010

, joint 1st * 2010 The President's Cup, joint 1st * 2009 Chess Classic,

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, 1st * 2008 Rapid Tournament, Corsica, 1st * 2007 Rapid Tournament, Czech Republic, 1st * 2006 Hoogeveen Essent Tournament, 1st * 2006 Ordix Open, joint 1st * 2006

, Moscow, Russia, joint 1st * 2006 Reykjavík Open, joint 1st * 2006 The President's Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan 1st * 2005 World Junior Championship (Under-20) * 2004 Dubai Open,

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, 1st * 2003 Under-18 World Championship * 2003 World Junior Championship (Under-20), Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * *
Interview with GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamedyarov, Shahriyar 1985 births Living people Chess grandmasters Azerbaijani chess players World Youth Chess Champions World Junior Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors People from Sumgait People from Zangilan District