National GM wins silver at Tata Steel Masters

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani chess player Shakhriyar Mammadyarov has taken the second place at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament.

In the 13th round, he played a draw with the American chess player Fabiano Caruana. As a result, Mammadyarov took the second place scoring eight points.

The current world champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen won the tournament with 9.5 points.

Earlier, the chess player Shakhriyar Mammadyarov won over the Indian chess player Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa at the Tata Steel Chess tournament.

Shakhriyar Mammadyarov increased his result to 5.5 points after 8 games. He shares the first two places with world champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway, who has the same result.

He also played a draw with Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport.

Notably, Shakhriyar Mammadyarov is a three-fold European Team Champion (2009, 2013 and 2017) and gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board.

He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2003 and repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, achieving a 2,953 performance rating after eight rounds. After winning the Essent Tournament in 2006, Shakhriyar achieved world fame.

In June 2016, Mammadyarov won the 3rd Shamkir Chess Tournament, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. He defeated Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tiebreak situation with Caruana. He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him tournament victory.

In 2021, Mammadyarov defeated the 13-time world champion Garry Kasparov at the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb (Croatia).

The round-robin tournament consists of 13 rounds. 14 chess players take part in the tournament.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. The "Wimbledon of Chess" attracts the very best chess grandmasters in the world, along with thousands of amateur players.

The tournament has two main player groups, each with 14 players. They are known as the Tata Steel Masters and the Tata Steel Challengers.

Both the Masters and the Challengers played their first round on  January 13. In addition to Grandmaster events, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament also organises amateur events that are open to players of all levels.