A RUSSIAN TANDEM

The World Chess Cup ended with a final meeting between the top Russian grandmasters Petr Svidler and Sergey Karyakin. According to the rules, both finalists qualified to take part in the Candidates Tournament for the title of world champion. Sergey Karyakin won the tournament.

Interestingly, at earlier stages both players knocked Azerbaijanis out of the tournament. In the 1/8 finals Petr Svidler beat Teymur Racabov and Sergey Karyakin forced Sahriyar Mammadyarov to concede defeat in the quarter final. Overall, it is difficult to give a simple assessment of the performance of the Azerbaijani players, six of whom represented the country at the World Cup.

In the toughest competition of his career Vasif Durarybayli won only two games. The coaches were not expecting Vasif, who lost to Le Quang Liem in the very first round, to beat his stronger opponents, but he did gain valuable experience. But the defeat of Eltac Safarli, a member of the national team, was a surprise. After drawing with the Hungarian Csaba Balogh in classical games, Eltac had to suffer the bitter taste of defeat in a tie-break. Safarli definitely played well below his potential.

At the first stage Rauf Mammadov overcame European champion Yevgeniy Nayer. After winning in the first game with white pieces, our grandmaster managed to draw the second game. But in the 1/32 final he was stopped by Fabiano Caruana, one of the top grandmasters. In the first game his opponent took skilful advantage of Mammadov's risky approach, beating him by four pieces. The second game ended in a draw, so Rauf was also eliminated from the tournament.

Qadir Huseynov deserves praise. After beating the Russian Maksim Matlakov and the Czech David Navar, Huseynov lost in the 1/16 final to Ding Liren of China, but it could be said that Qadir did well and improved his rating. He also drew attention by his victories over two stronger grandmasters.

Teymur Racabov also got through two rounds. First, he eliminated Samuel Sevian, US' youngest ever grandmaster, and then the Israeli, Ilya Smirin, beating both opponents in a tie-break. In the 1/16 final Racabov was up against the eventual World champion, Petr Svidler. With two classical games ending in a draw, the players had to face a tie-break, and although Teymur had chances to win in rapid chess his opponent eventually prevailed.  In summing up Racabov's performance, you have to say he was just unlucky.

The pick of Azerbaijan's chess players was Sahriyar Mammadyarov. After a solid victory over Pouya of Iran, and then the women's world champion, Hou Yifan, he was up against Fabiano Caruana, who beat Rauf Mammadov, in the 1/8 final. In the first game Mammadyarov, after gaining the lead in the opening, went on to checkmate his opponent's king. He drew the second game, thereby qualifying for the quarter-final.  Here he was up against the eventual runner-up of the tournament, the Russian Sergey Karyakin. Although Sahriyar was close to winning in the first game, playing with white pieces, he failed to develop his advantage and the game ended in a draw. In the second game the opponents called a "truce" after the 14th move. This meant a tie-break, and although in rapid chess Mammadyarov had the advantage he was unable to make it pay. In the 10-minute game, our grandmaster ran out of time, allowing Karyakin to forge ahead. Sariyar failed to win the return game and was therefore eliminated.

Despite this, Mammadyarov's performance at the World Cup is deserving only of praise.  It is a long time since he showed such confidence in a tournament. Shunning the slightest risk, and accurately analyzing his opponents' play, Mammadyarov tasted the joy of victory in four rounds. For his overall performance at the World Cup Sahriyar added another 9 points to his FIDE ranking.

In an interview for R+, Sariyar Mammadyarov, having reached the quarter finals of the World Cup for the second time, spoke about his performance in the tournament: "You can't put my defeat in the quarter final down to fatigue. There were two players of equal strength up against each other in the tie-break. As we know, Karyakin was world rapid chess champion in 2012, and it was me in 2013. In this encounter one of us had to win and the other had to leave the tournament. Unfortunately, it was me who had to say goodbye to the World Cup. My main objective when preparing for the World Cup was to qualify for the contenders' match. For the last three years our chess players have regularly been represented at this tournament. I very much wanted to take part in the contenders' match this time, too and I hoped to get a good result. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. However, we don't yet know where this tournament will be held. It could be that Azerbaijan will want to host this competition again, and then an Azerbaijani will be able to participate as a member of the organizing nation. In any event, I would like to thank everyone who supported the Azerbaijani chess players during the World Cup. There were no empty seats during the 1/8 and quarter final matches. That was really great to see. Everyone knows that people in Azerbaijan love chess. I didn't want to upset our fans and I did my best to win to make them happy."

The tough rules of the competition in Baku caused a number of surprises.  Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand left the tournament after the very first round. Former world champions Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik were also eliminated after losing at the early stages. It should be noted that Armenia was represented at this prestigious tournament by four players who also lost in the early stages. They were all highly appreciative of the organization of the tournament and the conditions created for them. The organizing committee not only provided security for the Armenian players but also made it possible for them to see something of Baku.

An even bigger sporting event lies in store for Azerbaijan. Next year Baku will play host to the greatest event in its history - the Chess Olympics - which will be attended by representatives from nearly 180 countries. And it won't be long before Azerbaijan's chess players will be defending their country's honour at the European Cup and the Continental Championships.