Shamkir April 19 Vugar Gashimov Memorial - World's Top Chess GMs Gather to Salute a Chess Star

Hello dear Chess Blog friends,

Vugar Gashimov Chess Memorial 2014

Shamkir - the city that lies quietly on the banks of River Chagirchay in the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus - is named after the brightest of stars, the Sun. 

Come April 19 and some of the world's best chess stars will gather in the Azerbaijan city to pay homage to another star - Vugar Gashimov. Gashimov is no more, but his beautiful chess remains with us forever. A chess memorial attended by the world's best could alone be a befitting tribute to Vugar Gashimov.

There will be two groups - A and B.

The official website of the event will transmit live all the games along with commentary, in English, Russian, and Azerbaijani, by some of the best in the chess world. 

The Azeri comments will come from Grandmasters, honored coach of Azerbaijan, FIDE trainer Anar Allahverdiyev and coach of the national team of teenagers Farid Abbasov.

Two-time Wijk-aan-Zee champion, Olympiad and European Championship participant, honored FIDE coach Gennady Sosonko will also be part of the commentary team.

Along with Sosonko, coach of Vugar Gashimov Viorel Iordakescu will comment the games in English. Sergey Shipov, one of the world's most famous commentators will comment in Russian.

The tournament is hosted and organised by "Synergy Group" which works "For a sustainable future". The opening ceremony will be held on April 19 at Heydar Aliyev Center in Shamkir. Established in 2010, Synergy Group is one of the largest private investment holdings in Azerbaijan. The Group invests in a number of strategic industry areas with high growth potential. Synergy Group successfully operates a dynamic portfolio of 28 diverse and growth-oriented businesses and with all its companies employs more than 1500 people.

Vugar Gashimov

Born on July 24th, 1986 in Baku, Vugar Gashimov achieved his peak ranking-world#6 in November, 2009. He has been the winner of Baku Grand Prix. Representing Azerbaijani team, he became the European champion in 2009. He played a crucial role in the historical victory of the national team at the European Championship held in Serbia. In 2011 he became the winner of Reggio Emilia chess tournament held in Italy since 1958. Playing on behalf of several chess clubs, he became the champion of Croatia, Turkey, Romania, Iran, Spain and Moldova. A silver-medalist, Gashimov was known as a particularly strong blitz chess player. Owner of more than 72 titles, Vugar Gashimov is the winner of Kasparov Cup. For his individual indicators, he became silver medalist of the Chess Olympiad held in 2008. He is also a silver and bronze-medalist of the World Intellectual Games.

Vugar Gashimov passed away on January 10th, 2014 in Heidelberg, Germany at the age of 27. The grandmaster from Baku had been ill for a long time and was under treatment for the last 1.5 years.

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