National GMs to participate in European Youth Chess Championship

Azerbaijani chess players will participate in the European Youth Chess Championship, Azernews reports. The championship will take place on August 22-31 in Prague, the Czech Republic.

A total of 40 chess players including European champions 2023 Rustam Rustamov, Mehriban Ahmadli, Muhammad Kazimzade, bronze medalist Saadat Bashirli, as well as Pasham Alizade, Lala Huseynova, Shiroglan Talibov, Tunar Davudov, Zahra Allahverdi, Ahmad Huseynov and others will represent country at the tournament.

The European Youth Chess Championship 2024 will be played in 6 age categories: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18, open and girls sections separately. Each championship will be played in 9 rounds, swiss system, with time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment. Chess players from more than 40 countries will participate in the tournament.

The Winners in each age section will become the European Youth Chess Champions of the respective age category.

The first three players in each group will be awarded cups and medals and the first five players in each group will be awarded cups, diplomas and valuable prizes. Each participant will receive presents.

The Azerbaijan Chess Federation was founded in 1920. Elman Rustamov has been president of the National Chess Federation since 2007.

The national chess players have always taken high places at top-ranked tournaments.

Shahriyar 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, Shahriyar achieved world fame.

In June 2016, Mammadyarov won the 3rd Vugar Gashimov Memorial Shamkir Chess Tournament.

He defeated Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tie-break situation with Caruana. He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him a tournament victory.

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

Teymur Rajabov earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time. He defeated Kasparov back in 2003.

He also won the European Team Chess Championship with Azerbaijan in 2009, 2013, and 2017.

His major individual achievements include joint first place at the 2008 Elista Grand Prix, the 2017 Geneva Grand Prix, and the 2019 FIDE World Cup.

Nijat Abasov reached his all-time-highest rating of 2677 and was ranked No. 3 in Azerbaijan and No. 59 worldwide as of 2023.

In the FIDE World Cup 2023, Abasov found himself face-to-face with Magnus Carlsen, widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time.

The match between these two chess prodigies was an unforgettable display of strategic brilliance.

Gulnar Mammadova holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She won the women's section of the Azerbaijani Chess Championship in 2021.

In the 2016 Women's Chess Olympiad, Mammadova won the individual gold medal for the best performance on board 3.

Govhar Beydullayeva has gone down in history as the first woman grandmaster to become the world champion among 20-year-olds in the history of Azerbaijani chess.

Beydullayeva drew with Zala Urh (Slovenia) and Laman Hajiyeva with Livia Jarocka (Poland) at the World Junior Chess Championship U20. She secured a gold medal in the world championship of under-20 chess players.

Govhar Beydullayeva repeatedly represented Azerbaijan at the European Youth Chess Championships and World Youth Chess Championships in different age groups, where she won three medals, including two silvers.

In 2021, she won a silver medal among women in the Serbia Open Masters tournament held in Belgrade, Serbia.

Govhar Beydullayeva also participated in the Azerbaijan national women's chess championships, where she won 4 medals: gold in 2022, silver in 2020 and 2021, and bronze in 2019.