THE GOLDEN TEAM

The European Chess Championship held on the Greek island of Crete ended with the historic victory of the Azerbaijani men's team. Our grandmasters won the third cup of the continental championship for the last five championships. Previously, our team became European champion in 2009 and 2013. In 2011, they were the second strong team of Europe losing the first place to the German national team.

According to statistics from all European championships held since 1957, the Azerbaijani team confidently takes the second place, having three gold, one silver and one bronze medal. It is the second only after the former-Soviet / Russian team.

The start of the last European Championship did not promise such an impressive result: Azerbaijani grandmasters, who ranked second in rating, lost to Italians and tied with Spaniards, after defeating the Austrian team. Despite the difficult situation after the setbacks in the first rounds, our team (Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Rajabov, Arkadiy Naidich, Gadir Huseynov and Rauf Mammadov) managed to fight the opponents by winning the next five games. The first in the subsequent successful series was the victory in a principal meeting with the Armenian team (2.5:1.5). In the tenth round, the Azerbaijani team met with the rating-favorite of the tournament, the Russian national team. The winner would actually become a potential champion. In this decisive meeting, Azerbaijani chess players made a brilliant victory. Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Rauf Mammadov brought Azerbaijan the victory after defeating Jan Nepomnyashchiy and Danilo Dubov, respectively.

The last eleventh round was decisive for the fate of the championship. Arkady Naidich was very close to win the match against the Ukrainian team. After gaining a big advantage in the game with Ruslan Ponomarev, Naidich failed to make his opponent to make a mistake, and the game ended in a draw. Similarly, Teymur Radjabov vs. Yuri Krivorchuk, Shahriyar Mamedyarov vs. Pavel Eljanov and Rauf Mammadov vs. Yuri Kuzubov ended in a draw. The final result of the match between Azerbaijan and Ukraine was 2:2. Now all attention was focused on games between Russia and Germany. In the case of a draw, gold medals would go to the national team of Azerbaijan. With the defeat of the German national team, additional team coefficients would be taken into account.

Although the Russian team participated in the European Championship without Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karyakin, it proved that it was stronger than the German team. The victories of Nikita Vityugov and Jan Nepomnyashchiy brought her the victory (3:1). Thus, two teams - the national teams of Azerbaijan and Russia scored 14 points each. However, having the best additional indicators, our national team became the European champion for the third time in its history.

The victory in Greece is another evidence that the Azerbaijani team is among the strongest in the world. The team leader Shahriyar Mammadyarov was remembered this time with a confident game on the first board and important victories. By the way, he is the second strongest player in world ratings (the first is the world champion Magnus Carlsen), and was awarded a silver medal on his board. The same medal was awarded to Teymur Rajabov, who showed an excellent game this year and scored 5.5 points in eight games of the championship. Gadir Huseynov and Arkady Naidich troubled their rivals on the third and fourth boards. With 8 points in nine meetings and raising his rating to 2709 points, Rauf Mammadov became the fourth Azerbaijani chess player to enter the elite of world chess. In general, the European Championship was a new stage for Mammadov. Rauf climbed 40 points in FIDE ratings and got a gold medal for an individual result.

The captain of the national team of Azerbaijan, Eltaj Safarli, deserves only the best words. He became the European champion in 2013, and this time received the gold medal of the championship as captain-coach. He created all conditions necessary for the team to hold the games as a team, and provided necessary assistance in choosing debuts. According to Rauf Mammadov and Gadir Huseynov, the captain made a big contribution to the team's victory with his helpful advice. However, this does not mean Eltaj's farewell to the career of a chess player. At regular competitions, the 25-year-old grandmaster will fight along with everyone.

The achievements of our chess team are connected with this group of chess players: all the medals at the European Championships were won by teams including Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Teymur Rajabov, Gadir Huseynov, Eltaj Safarli, Rauf Mammadov, Arkadiy Naidich and the late Vugar Gashimov.

The president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the team after return to Azerbaijan. Mr. Aliyev noted the special significance of this victory: "Azerbaijan has achieved another great success. This time in chess. The victory won in the intellectual battle is of special importance. It is a victory based on the talent and intellect of our people. In a tense struggle, our chess players once again demonstrated the intellectual potential of the Azerbaijani people throughout Europe and at the same time to the whole world."

"The development of chess in Azerbaijan is getting fast. We have restored the tradition laid down in due time by the great leader Heydar Aliyev. At that time, in 1970-80s, modern chess schools were opened in all our regions. Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, many of them were closed or were open for privatization. We are conducting very consistent work on the construction of new chess schools in all regions. I personally took part in the opening of the majority of chess schools in the regions. Of course, the creation of a major chess center in Baku is one of the important issues on our agenda. I am sure that we will do this in the near future. At the same time, international competitions are held regularly in Azerbaijan. The Vugar Gashimov international tournament is considered as one of the most prestigious international tournaments. Of course, participation in this tournament of the world's leading chess players is indicative of its level. We also recall the World Chess Olympiad, in which we all participated. This was also a great sporting event. We can say that after the Summer Olympic Games in terms of the number of participating countries, this may even have been the second event, and it was held at a high level. The holding of such an event in Azerbaijan, of course, is a reflection of the progress we have made in the field of chess. This time the Azerbaijani team pleased us again. Participants of our team, all of them are young people, young generation, chess players who grew up in the period of independence. This victory really shows the successful development of our independence, and the intellectual level of our country," said Aliyev.

In his interview with R+, vice-president of Azerbaijan Chess Federation Mahir Mammadov told us about the success in Greece and about the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev: "As always, meeting with President Ilham Aliyev was a huge incentive for our team. The president has comprehensive information about each member of the national team. He congratulated the team, wished new victories in the future. The close attention and comprehensive concern of our president means great responsibility for the national team. Our chess players are obliged to fight for victory at all competitions. The victory in Greece was a great success for the whole nation. I would always like to see our team like this. All the members of the team demonstrated high professionalism and skill. I hope that further success will follow. After all, we have all conditions to achieve this objective. We will try to make our people happy by winning the Olympics. Our next goal is the Olympic championship".

By the way, one of the members of the national team, Teymur Rajabov, starts the fight at the Grand Prix tournament in the Spanish city of Palma de Mallorca. Rajabov is on the top three of this tournament and can take part at the world championship. At the same time, Shahriyar Mammadyarov’s participation in the same tournament depends on the results of this tournament.