SEVEN FIXTURES - SEVEN WINS

The European Chess Clubs Cup held in the Spanish city of Bilbao was won by representatives of Azerbaijan. SOCAR-Azerbaijan, who were considered the main favourite of the tournament, beat all their rivals with a fantastic result. The club, led by their captain Vladimir Tukmakov, won all seven games.

Prior to the European Cup, some doubted that SOCAR-Azerbaijan would win the grand prize of the season. The main reason for this was that Fabiano Caruana, who was considered one of the strongest players in the world, had parted with the club. However, despite the fact that the team were weaker compared to the last season, SOCAR-Azerbaijan demonstrated strong-willed teamwork and won this prestigious tournament.

Two years ago, when the Azerbaijani team won the European Cup for the first time in the tournament in St. Petersburg, SOCAR-Azerbaijan scored the same number of points as a representative of the St. Petersburg Federation and won the cup on additional indicators. This time, our team did not even let their opponent come closer to them. Beating the strong Malakhit team from Russia, SOCAR-Azerbaijan proved that they deserve to be a leader. With such well-known chess players like Sergey Karyakin and Aleksandr Grishchuk, Malakhit, after a 1-5 defeat from SOCAR-Azerbaijan, were actually suspended from the fight for first place.

No less interesting was the fixture with the Obiettivo Risacrimento club from Italy. Thanks to teamwork led by Vladimir Tukmakov, SOCAR-Azerbaijan gained a victory over their main rival with a score of 3.5-2.5. It was after this victory that the Azerbaijani team came even closer to gold medals. In the last round, SOCAR-Azerbaijan broke the resistance of the club of the St. Petersburg Chess Federation. After 5 games ended in a draw, all attention was focused on Veselin Topalov. Having gained a brilliant victory over Peter Svidler, the Bulgarian grandmaster brought victory to SOCAR-Azerbaijan - 3.5-2.5.

Along with the solid team, an important key to the success of SOCAR-Azerbaijan was that the experienced captain of the team, Ukrainian grandmaster Vladimir Tukmakov, managed to distribute the players on the boards correctly. Putting Sahriyar Mammadyarov at the first board and Veselin Topalov, who has a higher rating, at the second board, he chose the right tactics. It's no secret that Mammadyarov is ready for an uncompromising struggle against any opponent. If necessary, he can play for a draw and make a contribution to the overall success. At the second board Topalov became a headache for opponents. Michael Adams and Anish Giri lived up to expectations at the third and fourth boards. Important points for our team were earned by Teymur Racabov at the fifth board. Wang Hao, Anton Korobov and Eltac Safarli successfully implemented the instructions of the captain.

Of course, Sahriyar Mammadyarov became the leader of the team. Mobilizing himself after the failure at the tournament in Samkir, the graduate of the Sumqayit chess school fought his opponents with dignity and finished the tournament, having 2 wins and 2 draws to his credit. With this result, Sahriyar was awarded the bronze medal at the first board. The famous Bulgarian chess player Veselin Topalov became an insurmountable barrier for competitors at the second board. As a result, four wins and one draw earned him 4.5 points. Michael Adams and Anish Giri made a significant contribution to the victory of SOCAR-Azerbaijan - 3.5 and 4.5 points respectively. Gaining 4.5 points at the fifth board, Teymur Racabov beat all rivals from other teams. Demonstrating true teamwork, he was awarded a gold medal. Wang Hao has 4, Anton Korobov - 3.5 and Eltac Safarli - 2.5 points to their credit.

 In an interview with R+, SOCAR-Azerbaijan Captain Vladimir Tukmakov expressed his satisfaction with his team members: "I'm happy with all chess players. They demonstrated a performance worthy of a team of stars. Each player played for the overall result. Two years ago, we actually shared first and second places. And now, with 7 wins, we proved that we're the strongest. The team brings together enough experienced players. Working with them was not very hard. After the correct distribution of the boards, we just had to fight. I'm glad that we achieved the championship, which we deserved."

Sahriyar Mammadyarov, who made a contribution to the success of the team, shared the joy of victory with the R+: "We bring the European Cup to Baku for the second time. Man is happy to see the result of his work. We fought like a real team and eventually won the gold medal. We confidently beat strong contenders, with whom fate brought us to the second round. Despite this, we fought until the very end, and at the chessboard, we proved that we're the strongest. This victory is the success of Azerbaijani chess. After these victories, young players play chess with even more passion."

Inexperience prevented the Odlar Yurdu Club, who also represented Azerbaijan in the European Cup, from succeeding. Participating in such a prestigious tournament for the second time, although the club started well, they lost a lot of points in the end. We cannot but note the perfect performance of Vasif Durarbayli. He defeated David Navara of the Czech club Novy Bor and Gata Kamskiy, who represented Russia. The result he showed proves that Durarbayli is on the rise. If he trains as hard, we can predict that he will become one of the members of the main national team. The main objective of the Odlar Yurdu team is to give young Azerbaijani chess players the opportunity to gain experience.

In 2016, Baku will host the Chess Olympiad. As the host country, Azerbaijan has the right to send three men's teams and one women's team to this tournament. And for this purpose, it is necessary to create conditions for young players to improve their performance. At the same time, there is no doubt that in the future Odlar Yurdu will surely be among the winners of the European Cup.