HAVING A TOURNAMENT ON THE CREDIT SIDE

The Candidates Tournament for the world chess champion's crown staged in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk was won by Viswanathan Anand. By winning this tournament, the Indian grandmaster has received the opportunity to challenge incumbent world champion Magnus Carlsen and vie for the world chess crown, which he lost to the Norwegian last year. In any case, Anand, who is 42, has demonstrated that it is too early to dismiss him as a challenger and he is still able to keep pace with the young. Sound performance with all opponents and the use of decisive tactics at the necessary moment played a major role in his well-deserved victory. Azerbaijani grandmaster Sahriyar Mammadyarov, who along with Anand strived to win the tournament, had to content himself with the 4th place.

Ending the opening game with Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in a tie, Sahriyar lost an important game to Levon Aronian. Having made a gross blunder, Mammadyarov lost the queen following which the defeat was inevitable. Next, it was Anand who celebrated his victory over Sahriyar. After that some experts went even so far as predicted Sahriyar's complete fiasco but the experienced grandmaster had found the strength to pull himself together and change the course of events.

A day of rest was announced after three rounds, which was enough for Mammadyarov to recover. Winning two games in a row - over Dmitry Andreikin and Peter Svidler - he then shared a point with Sergey Karjakin. However, the seventh round proved to be a disaster for our countryman as he resigned to Kramnik. In fact, this round had become a turning point for him. Sahriyar, who was in the middle of the crosstable until a defeat from Kramnik, lost motivation as he realised that he had almost wasted his chance to win the tournament.

This conclusion was confirmed to R+ by Sahriyar himself: "I was striving to win in the game against Kramnik in the seventh round. Though I could bring the game to a draw at any time, I wished to win. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and lost. In a sense, there was a piece of bad luck. I was upset after losing to Kramnik because my chances to become the winner diminished. I tried to achieve a breakthrough playing against Koryakin in the 12th round but that did not work. In the remaining games, I was aware that I practically had no chance to take the first place even if I won."

Agreeing to a draw with Topalov in the 8th round, Sahriyar then won a beautiful game against Aronian, thus not only squaring accounts for the previous defeat but also laying the foundation for a series of failures of the Armenian chessplayer. Aronian could not recover after this defeat, eventually dropping to the bottom of the crosstable.

A draw with Anand in the 10th round further reduced Mammadyarov's chances for the top position, and he subsequently drew with Andreikin, Karjakin, Svidler and Kramnik in the remaining rounds. Finally, Sahriyar took the 4th place based on additional factors, though he had enough potential to become the winner.

On the whole, Sahriyar Mammadyarov can have the Candidates Tournament to his credit since he demonstrated uncompromising struggle in all games. As he strived to win in every game, Mammadyarov's play was open and creative. His failures at the start of the tournament were due to the fact that he had not participated in any competition in the last four months. It is worth mentioning that the grandmaster made a similar mistake prior to the Candidates Tournament held in Kazan two years ago - he did not play in any chess tournaments for a long time, limiting himself to training sessions. Speaking about his non-participation in the tournaments, Sahriyar explained: "I have not played in any competition over the past four months. This is very bad. I knew it myself. The same happened two years ago, before the Candidates Tournament in Kazan. It is hard to stay in shape without practice. Of course, I played friendly matches and certain games during training. But a tournament is another matter. There's quite a thrill and more responsibility. To tell the truth, there were no invitations. How can I practice if I had no invitations to serious competitions? I could take part in an "open" competition but I did not want to. In my opinion, it is unbecoming for a chessplayer preparing for the Candidates Tournament to play in open tournaments with relatively weak opponents."

Due to the fairly successful performance in Khanty-Mansiysk, Sahriyar has raised his rating and now ranks 10th on the FIDE rating list. A team of professionals who helped him prepare for the tournament played a significant role in his success. In preparing for this prestigious competition, he was helped out by his teammates Rauf Mammadov and Eltac Safarli. "All the necessary conditions have been created for me in Azerbaijan. I was assisted by my teammates and the captain of our team, Alexander Khalifman. Our training was rewarding. There is no ground for complaints given that I shared the 3rd-5th places in a competition attended by eight top players and managed to raise my personal rating at that. It's just that the victory in the tournament is felt quite differently. I could not achieve this," Mammadyarov said.

Sahriyar participated in the Candidates Tournament for the second time in his career. He is obliged to continue to refine himself. The second attempt was more successful than the first one. Hence, the third attempt can possibly bring victory. In an interview with R+, the chessplayer said that he would pursue the implementation of his greatest dream to the very end: "It is the dream of every chessplayer to become the world champion. I continue to struggle to achieve this goal. It did not work this time. I shall draw conclusions from the mistakes made. After all, such a seasoned chessplayer as Boris Gelfand acquired the right to play in the championship match when he was 44 already. I still have time to reach the goal. My biggest dream is to bring the world chess crown to Baku."