Gashimov Memorial is a

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 ...

supertournament played in

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 th ...

in memory of

Vugar Gashimov Vugar Gasim oghlu Hashimov ( az, Vüqar Qasım oğlu Həşimov; 24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014), known internationally as Vugar Gashimov , was an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. He was a noted player of blitz chess. At his peak ranking, he ...

(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 of two tournaments, with invited players

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 ...

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraSergey 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

making up the A Tournament. The Elo average for the tournament was 2780, making it a Category 22 event and one of the highest rated tournaments of all time. The A Tournament was held as a double round robin, with each player facing the other with both colours, while the B Tournament was held as a single round robin. The total prize fund for the A tournament was €100,000, while the prize fund for the B tournament was €30,000. In the A Tournament, in spite of losing consecutive games early on,

won after a last round White win over

who finished second. In the B Tournament,

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 ...

won two and drew one of his last three games to take first place.

2015

The second edition of Shamkir Chess took place 16–25 April 2015. World champion

, former world champion

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have ...

and

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Ch ...

competed in the tournament in Azerbaijan, as well as

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri ( ne, अनीश कुमार गिरी; russian: Аниш Кумар Гири; born 28 June 1994) is a Russian-born Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he completed the requirements for the title Grandmaster at ...

, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,

, Michael Adams, and the Azerbaijan Champion Rauf Mamedov. The tournament's total prize fund was €100,000. Magnus Carlsen won the event with 7 points out of 9.

2016

The 3rd Shamkir Chess Tournament took place from May 26 to June 4, 2016. All ratings below are from the May 2016 FIDE Rating Lists. Both Mamedyarov and Caruana were equal after nine rounds. Mamedyarov won the ensuing tiebreak rounds. The first two games were 10+3, and the second two games were 5+3.

2017

2018

The total prize fund of the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess tournament was again set to €100,000, with the winner receiving €30,000. With an average rating of 2768, it was a category XXI tournament. One week before the beginning of the tournament, former world champion

sent a letter to the organization committee stating he would not participate as planned, as he desired a rest after the

Candidates Tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The w ...

held in March. The organizers replaced Kramnik with the No. 1 Polish player Radosław Wojtaszek (2744). In the last round of the tournament,

and

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vac ...

faced each other. They were in first and second place, respectively, and Carlsen as white needed only a draw to reclaim the title after two years of absence from the tournament. The game was a theoretical Four Knights Game. It was clear that Ding did not want to risk his runner-up position by attempting to defeat Carlsen as black, and the game was drawn within 20 minutes. As a result, Carlsen won the tournament for the third time.

2019

2021

The 2021 edition was changed to a rapid/blitz event, and held 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 ...

, a departure from the tournament being traditionally held in Shamkir.

won the event in an

armageddon According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...

playoff with

Richard Rapport Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

References

External links

Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2014

Broadcast of the Shamkir 2019 on worldchess.com
{{Chess tournaments Chess competitions Chess in Azerbaijan Chess memorial tournaments International sports competitions hosted by Azerbaijan Shamkir District 2014 establishments in Azerbaijan Recurring sporting events established in 2014