ChessBomb Blog: Vugar Gashimov Momorial

Watch LIVE Gashimov Memorial 2014 with computer analysis:
Group A | Group B

Official website: Shamkir Chess

This year's Tata Steel Chess tournament started on 11th January with the very sad news of the death of Vugar Gashimov - one of Azerbaijan's top players, who died in Germany at the age of 27.

Gashimov at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Tata Steel tournament, which would be his last ever (ChessVibes)

Vugar Gashimov

Vugar Gashimov (24 July 1986 – 11 January 2014) was one of the strongest Azerbaijani chess grandmasters. He was a noted player of blitz chess. His peak ranking was No. 6 in the world, achieved in November 2009.

He won the Athens 2005 (Acropolis International), Cappelle-la-Grande Open 2008, Reggio Emilia 2010-11. Gashimov played for Azerbaijan in the Chess Olympiads of 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. He played in the gold medal-winning Azerbaijani team at the European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad in 2009, alongside Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Rauf Mammadov and Gadir Guseinov, previously winning bronze medal in 2007.

(Main source: Wikipedia)

In Gashimov's memory "Synergy Group" organises a chess memorial tournament in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, between 20th and 30th April 2014, with total prize fund of €100,000.

Time controls

Tournament A: Double round robin system.
Tournament B: Round robin system.

Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control; an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards.

Participants

Grandmasters - tournament A

Carlsen Magnus Born 30 November 1990 FIDE rating: 2881 (April 2014) NORWAY	Caruana Fabiano Born 30 July 1992 FIDE rating: 2783 (April 2014) ITALY
Karjakin Sergey Born 12 January 1990 FIDE rating: 2772 (April 2014) RUSSIA	Nakamura Hikaru Born 9 December 1987 FIDE rating: 2772 (April 2014) USA
Mammedyarov Shakhriyar Born 12 April 1985 FIDE rating: 2760 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN	Radjabov Teimour Born 12 March 1987 FIDE rating: 2713 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN

Grandmasters - tournament B

Wang Hao Born 4 August 1989 FIDE rating: 2734 (April 2014) CHINA	Eljanov Pavel Born 10 May 1983 FIDE rating: 2732 (April 2014) UKRAINE
Bacrot Etienne Born 22 January 1983 FIDE rating: 2722 (April 2014) FRANCE	Wojtaszek Radoslav Born 13 January 1987 FIDE rating: 2716 (April 2014) POLAND
Motylev Alexander Born 17 June 1979 FIDE rating: 2685 (April 2014) RUSSIA	Mamedov Rauf Born 26 April 1988 FIDE rating: 2660 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN
Safarli Eltaj Born 18 May 1992 FIDE rating: 2656 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN	Guseinov Gadir Born 21 May 1986 FIDE rating: 2621 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN
Durarbeyli Vasif Born 24 February 1992 FIDE rating: 2584 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN	Abasov Nijat Born 14 May 1995 FIDE rating: 2516 (April 2014) AZERBAIJAN