Supported by SOCAR, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Azerbaijan Chess Federation, and partnered by “Synergy Group”, the opening ceremony of the 22 category Memorial of Vugar Hashimov has been held. The vice-president of Chess Federation, Mahir Mammadov answered the questions of journalists before the opening ceremony.

“It is really pleasant moment that we hold the tournament for the sixth time. It is a nice tradition. Being hold in one of the lovely places of Azerbaijan is the best highlight of the tournament. At the same time, having the highest category and the most personnel on it is another tradition of the tournament. The reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen has come to participate at the tournament for the fourth time. The participation of Carlsen will draw the attraction of the World chess funs. The category 22 is the highest one, and it is impossible to have more than this in the chess. I hope that the numbers of draws will be less, and interesting parts will be high. I strongly hope that one of the Azerbaijani grandmasters will be the winner of the tournament.

In the Sofian system, not proposing the draw until the 30th or 40th move is considered. After the arrival of new director to the World Chess Federation, all these novelties are discussed once again. We would like to remove the draw agreement from the chess board. Probably, in the next tournament we will apply this new system”.

We should note that, Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2845), Ding Liren ( 2812), Anish Giri (The Netherlands, 2797), Wishvanatan Anand (India, 2779), Alexander Grishuk (Russia, 2771), Sergey Kariakin (Russia, 2753), veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, 2740), Czech David Navara (2739), and at the same time the Azerbaijani grandmasters, Shahriyar Mammadyarov (2790), and Teimour Radjabov (2756) will compete in the tournament. Consisting of nine rounds, the first parts of the tournament will commence starting from 15:00 p.m. tomorrow.

The Press Service of "Shamkir Chess 2019"