HEADING FOR THE CHESS OLYMPUS

The major chess event of 2014 is undoubtedly the Olympiad, which is being held in Norway. The strongest players will be revealed in this grandiose competition, in which 884 chess players in men's and women's teams from 178 countries are taking part in 11 rounds.

The favourites to win the Olympiad, which is being held in the city of Tromso, are regarded as the Russian, Ukrainian, Norwegian and US teams. The participation in the tournament of the present world champion, Magnus Carlsen, as well distinguished masters of the black and white board Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karyakin, Hikaru Nakamura and Veselina Topalova, boosts its reputation.

Incidentally, the city's striving to hold the chess Olympiad on such a high level has created some difficulties for it, and the mayor of Tromso has requested additional financing to tackle organisational issues. The lack of hotel rooms in Tromso was a serious problem. As a result, the judges have been accommodated 70 km from the town. Besides this, some of the teams have been provided with accommodation on special ships.

Azerbaijan's men's team, which occupies eighth place on the table of ratings has, as always, set out for the tournament with high hopes. The chess players, who experienced the joy of becoming champions at the European championship last year, are determined to return from Tromso with medals. According to the captain of the national team, Alexander Khalifman, after the training sessions in [the Azerbaijani towns of] Ismayilli and Qax, the team will head for Norway in high spirits: "The chess players are in a good mood. We are placing our hopes on every member of the team. I don't like to make forecasts, but we hope to return to Azerbaijan with some medals."

The team which consists of SahriyarMammadyarov, Teymur Racabov, QadirHuseinov, Rauf Mammadov and Eltac Safarli, may surprise their rivals with their performance on the chess boards. Khalifman, who often divides the chess players up according to their ratings, can change his tactics. So, according to his rating, Shakhnyar Mamedyarov should play on the first board, but Qadir Huseynov can also play in this position. Mammadyarov will play on the second board and Teymur Racabov on the fourth. This tactic harbours both advantages and a risks. As the best known and successful chess players, Mammadyarov and Racabov may be successful on their own boards, but Huseynov, who does not always perform well, may not be able to take advantage of the opportunity to play against the strongest players.

The present state of the members of the team also gives rise to certain questions. SahriyarMammadyarov, who suffered a fiasco in the tournament in [the Azerbaijani town of]Samkir, has been on holiday for the last two months, and it is difficult to forecast if he is on form. Teymur Racabov has not had any practice playing in major tournaments for the last two months either. Qadir Huseynov, Rauf Mammadov and Eltac Safarli have gained a certain amount of experience playing in small tournaments. It has to be admitted that, although the Azerbaijani team does not have such good chances of becoming Olympiad champions, they are quite strong enough to win some prizes.

SahriyarMammadyarov spoke to Regionplus about the team's goals at the Olympiad. "Unfortunately, the national team has not managed to win any medals at the Olympiads up till now. It has happened that they started off well, but ended up unsuccessful. Now Azerbaijan's team occupies eighth place in the ratings. A difficult contest undoubtedly lies ahead for us. All our rivals will enter with the main teams. In spite of this, we hope to perform successfully. For me personally, any place except in the first three will mean failure. The Azerbaijani team has long been successful at the European championships. Last year we became the European champions. We are setting out for the Olympiad as European champions. People will train especially thoroughly to play in the matches against us. In this sense, we will play to win in each case. It is difficult to predict what the outcome will be, but we want to realise the dream of VuqarHasimov (a former member of the team who died prematurely of a serious illness - Ed.). In Norway we will play for his sake as well. He is always with us."

One of the main reasons for our lack of success at previous chess Olympiads is the failure to keep up a steady game throughout the tournament. After starting the contest well, the team made serious and annoying mistakes at the end, which ultimately deprived them of medals.

Unlike the male chess players, the aims of Azerbaijan's main women's team are quite different. The team captained by FikratSideifzada includes Zeynab and Turkan Mammadyarovs, Gulnar Mammadova, Xayala Abdulla and Sabina Ibrahimova. Whereas the female players are rated in the top ten, this will already be considered a success for them. The lack of new names among our female chess players over the last few years has led to an absence of competition. It is precisely for this reason that their game has not shown any improvement for several years now.  So, it remains to be seen whether our girls can turn up any surprises.

Ten judges will represent Azerbaijan at this grandiose chess contest. For these servants of the chess goddess, who are to take part in the Baku Olympiad in a year's time, the competitions in Tromso will be an important school of experience.

The elections of the presidents of the International Chess Federation and European Chess Union are also to take place at the same time as the Chess Olympiad in Tromso. At the elections the Chess Federation of Azerbaijan is supporting the current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the former captain of the team Zurab Azmayparashvili respectively.

An Azerbaijan Day is to be held in Tromso on 12 August. The first deputy prime minister, Yaqub Eyyubov, the minister for youth and sports, Azad Rahimov, and vice president of Federal Chess Association, Mahir Mammadov. During the competition, not far from the hall where the chess players are playing, all kinds of information about our country will be on public display in a section allocated to Azerbaijan.

As the Chess Olympiad 2016 will be held in Baku, the Chess Olympiad banner will be hand over to the Azerbaijani delegation at the Olympiad's closing ceremony in Tromso. This grandiose ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Cristall Hall and chess players from almost 200 countries are to take part in it.