ON A PAR WITH LINARES

Azerbaijan has opened a new chess centre to the world - the city of Samkir. The Samkir Chess Tournament 2014, held in this beautiful corner of Azerbaijan for 10 days, attracted the attention of the world press, primarily due to the participation of Magnus Carlsen, a world champion and leader of world rankings.

Another point, which highlights the importance of this tournament, was that it was dedicated to the memory of the prematurely deceased Azerbaijani grandmaster Vuqar Hasimov.

Going ahead of the course of events, we should say that the 10-day event produced the expected result. The first Samkir Chess 2014 tournament was won by the Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. Azerbaijani masters Teymur Racabov and Sahriyar Mammadyarov were not among the winners.

The high level of organization of the tournament and the solid list of participants, including well-known grandmasters Sergey Karyakin, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, allow us to compare it with prominent tournaments like Wijk aan Zee and Linares.

In his letter, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and former world champion, Anatoliy Karpov, noted the perfect level of organization.

Samkir Chess 2014 involved players who personally knew the deceased Vuqar Hasimov and had encountered him at the chessboard. The tournament in Groups A and B was distinguished not only by the level of organization, but also high competition. Tournament A was categorized as 22 and B as 17.

As for the fight in Tournament A, the undisputed favourite was Magnus Carlsen. This chess player, who attracted attention with his ambitious statements from the first day of the competition, suffered 2 defeats in a row after the first round. The competition in Samkir was the first tournament of the highest category, in which Carlsen participated after he became a world champion. And it is here that the new holder of the chess crown suffered his first setback. First, the Norwegian lost to Fabiano Caruana and then to Teymur Racabov. Before playing with Carlsen both players carefully analyzed his play. Faced with a world champion in the fourth round, Caruana showed aggressiveness in the opening and did not back off to the very end, tasting the joy of victory after a 6-hour struggle. After him, Teymur Racabov, who took up the King's Indian defence in the game with him and accurately calculates all responses to his opponent's moves, dealt a second blow to Magnus in the fifth round. Carlsen's defeat frustrated his father, who was nervous afterwards and admitted at the press conference that the two defeats in a row became a big setback for Magnus. But we also should note the fighting spirit of the world champions, who began to show his inherent play after a rest day again. Before the final tenth round, in which Carlsen and Caruana met again, both received an equal number of points. By additional indicators, the Norwegian would become the winner of the tournament even in the event of a tie. But just playing to win, Carlsen took revenge for his defeat in the first round of the tournament and proved that he is a strong contender. Becoming the first, he took possession of the cup and the prize of 30,000 euros.

As for the performances of other chess players, we should note the representative of Italy Fabiano Caruana. Beating leading players of the world, the 22-year-old master showed that he is going to compete for the champion's title in the upcoming season. And experts already predict that Caruana will be the main rival of Carlsen. Caruana's complex play and ability to choose tactics already attract attention.

Speaking about the performance of Azerbaijani chess players, we should say that at the tournament Teymur Racabov won only one game. His victory in the fifth round over the world champion Magnus Carlsen became a sensation. Changes could be seen in the debut practice of Racabov, who had not played in the last 6 months. Having seriously prepared during this time, Teymur demonstrated good form at the Samkir tournament, which cannot be said about Mammadyarov. Only his victory over Caruana deserves a positive assessment. Of the remaining games, he tied in four games and lost five. So many defeats in one tournament are a real fiasco for a player with a rating of over 2,700 points. But there is an objective reason here - fatigue. Mammadyarov joined the struggle in Samkir immediately after the tournament of contenders. The chess player himself also admitted that he needs to rest.

Serious competition was observed in the Category B tournament. After 9 rounds, victory here was celebrated by Ukrainian Pavel Elyanov who was handed the cup and 8,000 euros. The performance of Azerbaijani chess player Qadir Huseynov and Nicat Abbasov in the tournament is commendable. Huseynov stood out for his stable play. And the youngest chess player of the tournament Nicat Abbasov won applause for being a headache for strong contenders in the biggest tournament of his career. Rauf Mammadov, Eltac Safarli and Vasif Durarbayli looked unconvincing.

The tournament in memory of Vuqar Hasimov put Samkir on the list of chess cities of the world. Now the chess map, along with the tournaments in Linares and Wijk aan Zee, will include the Samkir Chess tournament too. Vuqar Hasimov always dreamed of holding such an authoritative chess tournament in Azerbaijan. We just have to keep this idea going after the first competition...

 AT FIRST HAND 

"If next year I receive an invitation to the tournament in Samkir, I will accept it with great pleasure. As for my performance here, I am quite pleased with the result. The end of the first round turned out somewhat unsuccessful. But the main thing is that I finished the competition just as I started it. The most important thing is that I am the first, which makes me very happy. I am grateful to everyone who gave us the highest hospitality these days." 

Magnus Carlsen, world champion and winner of the Samkir Chess 2014 tournament

"Dedicated to the memory of Vuqar Hasimov, the tournament became the first chess super tournament held in Azerbaijan. I cannot but mention the high level of organization. In this regard, the tournament was one of the best in my entire career in chess. The most memorable moment was the victory over Carlsen. I hope that I will not remember about it for a very long time, because I want to gain new victories over him in upcoming tournaments." 

Teymur Racabov, Azerbaijani grandmaster

"I sincerely admit that playing in a tournament dedicated to the memory of my friend and teammate Vuqar Hasimov was extremely difficult. But I took such a risk because I wanted to win a tournament dedicated to his memory. Vuqar left us, but gave Azerbaijani chess players a great tournament we always dreamed of. Samkir Chess 2014 is a gift to the entire chess world. Chess players are not given such attention in any competition. Thanks to chess tournaments, we know about Wijk aan Zee and Linares. Now Samkir is known throughout the chess world."   

Sahriyar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijani chess player