RACABOV'S MISSED CHANCE

The chess tournament sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan has ended in victory for Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. The irreplaceable leader of the FIDE ratings (Carlsen's rating is 2,872) gained a chance to vie for the chess crown with Indian grand chess master Viswanathan Anand (2783). Unfortunately, our compatriot Teymur Racabov (2793) suffered a defeat which he had avoided until now. Azerbaijan's leading chess player scored only four points and came last with one win, six draws and seven defeats.

Carlsen's well-deserved victory

The London tournament ended on a somewhat dramatic note. Magnus Carlsen came first, beating seven rivals from post-Soviet countries. Nevertheless, victory did not come easy for him. After being defeated in the last round, the only hope for the 23-year old Norwegian grandmaster was that his rival, Vladimir Kramnik, would lose. Carlsen's wishes came true. In the final Kramnik lost to Vasiliy Ivanchuk which enabled Carlsen to advance on the basis of number of wins, and eventually win the London tournament. Now he is due to meet Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in a struggle that will decide the championship.

Carlsen's victory in London was well deserved. The second round of the tournament showed that three Russian chess players had evidently joined their efforts - in matches against Ckamnik, Pyotr Svidler and Aleksandr Grishuk used weak tactics whereas against other rivals they fought fiercely. This way, in the final six rounds Grishuk and Svidler tried to help Kramnik win the tournament. Vasiliy Ivanchuk, the Ukrainian grandmaster, scored a surprise victory as he defeated both Carlsen and Kramnik, the two favourites.

Racabov had a good start, but…

 Azerbaijan's strongest chess player, Teymur Racabov ran out of luck in London. Having suffered seven defeats in the tournament the Azerbaijani grandmaster gave everybody a bad surprise. Guests at the tournament could not explain why Racabov had played so badly. As a result the player will lose 31 points and will fall from 4th to the 12th place in the FIDE ratings. Racabov, who is usually very confident, looked stressed and anxious throughout the London tournament. Teymur, who had always put up reliable defence, this time failed to confront his rivals. During the tournament he ran out of time several times and failed to gain advantage in the opening game. The unlucky opening game then led to subsequent defeats.

Other causes of failure

 Prior to London, Racabov had not participated in tournaments for six months. Going to such an important tournament without practice was a bad decision. Saxriyar Mammadyarov made the same mistake in Kazan where he left the tournament after losing to Boris Gelfand.

In London Teymur played reluctantly and it was evident that he wanted the tournament to end soon. "I had never suffered so many defeats before. The reasons why I kept running out of time was that I think too much. I do not know what's wrong with me but it takes me long to decide on the right move. I think too much and I consequently run out of time. I failed to prepare to a satisfactory level for the tournament. I find it hard to sit at the chess desk uninterruptedly for a long time. However, nothing like that has happened before. I see that I played below my potential," Racabov told a R+ correspondent.

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik also thinks that Teymur played below his potential. "Before the tournament I thought that Teymur would be one of the main contenders. Recently he has made tremendous progress and played very well. What happened was that he was overburdened with responsibility, or else there was something else…In addition, I need to admit that it was evident that he had been poorly prepared. I do not know who was responsible for his training but it was definitely weak. This is not going to work. I think he certainly needs to improve his preparedness or sack his trainers. I do not know who his trainers are. I do not want to insult them. All this however is not going to realistically help him score a victory in such a tournament. He could have played a little better or a little worse but with such a level of preparedness he could not win first place," Kramnik told R+.

Nevertheless, whatever the results of the London tournament, Racabov will gather himself and will show his capability. It is not without reason that for a long time he ranked fourth in the FIDE global rating. He will have many more chances to fulfill his pledge. Baku certainly needs to regain the chess crown.