NIJAT ABASOV'S KNIGHT MOVE

On July 30-August 24, Baku hosted the World Chess Cup, the longest competition on the chess calendar. The  prestigious tournament was attended by 309 strongest international chess players among men and women from more than 80 countries.

A star of dashed hopes

Unfortunately, the leading Azerbaijani chess players fell short of expectations at the World Cup. 17 of 18 representatives of the national team dropped out the competition at the early stages of the tournament, thereby disappointing their fans. Thus, no one expected that such venerable players as Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Rajabov, the leader of the women's national team Gunay Mammadzade would leave the tournament with nothing.

The only hope of the fans was the only remaining member of the national team, Nijat Abasov, who was not among the top favourites before the competition, having been ranked the 69th strongest player of the tournament. Nevertheless, Nijat demonstrated a confident game and could successfully defeat his opponents.

He started the World Cup with a 1/64 final. Then he successively beat such experienced chess players as Roduel Makoto (Zimbabwe), Laurent Fressinet (France), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Peter Svidler (FIDE). Nijat then defeated Saleh Salem of the UAE in the 1/8 final and Santosh Vidit Gujarati, one of the young stars of Indian chess, in the 1/4 final.

In the semi-finals, Nijat had to play against the leader of recent years, five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. After losing to the Norwegian player, Nijat tried to compete for third place. But he was stopped by Italian Fabiano Caruana representing the USA. So Nijat won his first game, lost the return match, and in the tie-break Caruana left no chance for him - 1:0; 1:0.

Thus, Nijat Abasov achieved the greatest success in his sporting career, becoming the fourth strongest player of the World Cup. Again, the 69th chess player of the tournament ended up fourth. In addition, for the first time in the history of the World Chess Championship, Nijat entered the competition from the first stage and reached the semi-finals. He also won six games in a row for the first time after taking part in eight stages.

Magnus Carlsen won the men's tournament at the Baku World Chess Cup. The Norwegian grandmaster won this title for the first time in his career. The five-time world champion defeated India's Rameshbabu Pragnanandha in the final. He was awarded the gold medal and the trophy with one win and one tie on a tie-break. Third place went to Fabiano Caruana.

To be or not to be?

Now the chess fans are interested to know if Nijat Abasov be able to continue his success? Will there be another elite chess player in Azerbaijan after Teymur Rajabov, Vugar Hashimov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov? Thanks to his successful performance at the World Cup, Nijat raised 30 positions in the FIDE rating and now can play in the Candidates Tournament for the first time in his career. According to the regulations, the winners of the first three places at the World Cup get the right to participate in the Candidates Tournament. Since the winner of the Baku competition, Magnus Carlsen, refused to play in the tournament, the fourth strongest chess player becomes a participant.

Nijat Abasov shared his views on his performance at the World Cup: "I have prepared for the competition intensively for 25 days. I have never played under such tension. In the last days I felt totally exhausted. Only the support of the chess fans helped me to keep fighting with high motivation. However, in the last bouts I still lacked the strength and energy to perform as I wished. But I have gained a lot of experience. I believe that it will help me to achieve good results in upcoming competitions."

Nijat thanked all those who supported him: "Many thanks to the fans, the chess community, who constantly support me. For the first time I experienced such a wonderful thrill. In the next competitions I will fight in the same way to please everyone".

First step to great success

"Nijat has pleased all of us. He is a very strong chess player. At the World Cup we expected a successful result from Teymur Rajabov and Shahriyar Mammadyarov. But Nijat was prepared better. He is a chess player with great potential; he is constantly working on himself. He  demonstrated this with his performance. I watched his last games. I believe Nijat will be able to achieve great success in the future. I think this tournament will be a turning point in his future life and chess career. This is just the first step towards great success," Aynur Sofiyeva, Azerbaijan's first international grandmaster, member of the Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, said.

Among the guests of honour at the Baku World Cup was FIDE judge Boris Postovsky, who has worked for many years as head coach of the Russian national team and now lives in the USA. According to him, Nijat gained a lot of experience at these competitions: "I like his game. Nijat attracts attention with his serious and accurate game. He stopped one step away from the final. In the semi-final, he even competed with Carlsen one-on-one. He could even win the first game. He played the second game beautifully, too. He still has to do a lot of work. If he qualifies for the Candidates Tournament, it will be a great experience for him. I would like to congratulate Mahir Mammadov, President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, who has brought two strong specialists from Russia to Baku. One of them, Yevgeny Tomashevsky, is a fantastic coach, I know him well. He also contributed to Abasov's successful performance at this tournament. I think Nijat has a good chance."

Nijat Abasov will rest for some time after the Baku championship. He is expected to take part in the European Championship as a member of the national team in November.