THE WOMEN SET AN EXAMPLE

The outcome of the Chess Olympics in Khanty-Mansiysk cannot be called successful for the Azerbaijani national men's team. However, the outcome was simply fantastic for the women's team. A team on which no special hopes were pinned ahead of the contest, gave us a pleasant surprise. Playing for the maximum score in each round, the Azerbaijani women chess players were just a few steps away from bronze medals.

Women in the saddle

What is the secret of the girls' success? First and foremost, it must be noted that, unlike the men who carried greater responsibility, the women's team played under less psychological pressure. At the same time, we cannot but point out the skills and fine struggle mounted by the Azerbaijani chess players. Beating one opponent after another, the women's national team of Azerbaijan achieved one of the best results in their history.

However, Turkan Mammadyarova's game with a Vietnamese chess player ended in drama, after which the team were several points behind. But victories by Zeynab Mammadyarova and Gulnar Mammadova, who played with the black pieces, determined the outcome. The women's team, who were only expected to make the top 15, shared 3rd-8th places. In addition, Zeynab Mammadyarova won a silver medal for her individual performances on first board.

Team captain Fikrat Sideifzada made a great contribution to the successful performance of the Azerbaijani women. The experienced captain managed his task with credit, paying special attention to training the team leaders for important games.

Men: Check below the belt?

Unlike the women's team, the Azerbaijani men's chess team were expected to return from Khanty-Mansiysk with a medal, although the team's captain, Zurab Azmayparashvili, who led the team to victory at the European championship, believed that it would be enough to get into the top five. One way or another, the men failed to achieve their ambitious plans. At the same time, Sahriyar Mammadyarov and Teymur Racabov justified themselves as leaders of the team. Following the Olympics, both chess players saw their rankings rise. Sahriyar's game with Vasiliy Ivanchuk deserves separate attention. The Azerbaijani chess player broke the Ukrainian sportsman's run of victories. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for Rauf Mammadov, Qadir Huseynov and Eltac Safarli, who failed to get a grip at decisive moments. Eltac is regarded as a promising player and, while his failure may be attributed to the fact that he was at such a prestigious competition for the first time, Huseynov's defeat by his Italian opponent in the 10th round and Mammadov's defeat by Rublevskiy in the last round disappointed their fans.

At the same time, the Azerbaijani chess players gave wonderful performances in winning an important game with the Armenian team. The draws on three boards were supplemented by Qadir Huseynov's victory, and the odds were in favour of the Azerbaijani team.

One of the main reasons why the Azerbaijani men's team returned from Khanty-Mansiysk without a medal was probably the absence of Vuqar Hasimov. Second, the team lacked a captain's attention: the Olympics coincided with elections at FIDE, the international chess federation, and Zurab Azmayparashvili, captain of the Azerbaijani team, was in contention for the post of vice-president in FIDE, which he had previously held for eight years. Azmayparashvili did not get the post, but his absence affected the team's results. Perhaps that is why he submitted his resignation from the post of national team captain, although it is still not clear whether the Azerbaijani Chess Federation has accepted his resignation.

We can only hope that the Azerbaijani national men's chess team will regain its previous form by the 2011 European Championship and will go to the world championship having retained their title of European champions.