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Azerbaijani Grand Master Jumps to 2nd Spot in Doha

By Mushvig Mehdiyev December 28, 2016

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Shahriyar Mammadyarov

Shahriyar Mammadyarov, a chess grand master from Azerbaijan, jumped to the 2nd spot at the 2016 FIDE World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championships in Qatar’s Doha, on December 28th.

Following the next five stages of the rapid chess contest, Mammadyarov earned 7.5 points falling only behind the leader Vasiliy Ivanchuk, a Ukrainian chess master with 8.0 points.

Mammadyarov is one of the most successful chess masters in Azerbaijan. His career has seen 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals on various prestigious tournaments thus far. Mammadyarov is the only chess player in the world who claimed two-time under-20 world champion title consecutively.

Rapid chess is a variation of chess in which each side is given less time to make a move than under normal tournament time controls - 60 minutes for 60 sixty total moves.

Qatar’s capitol city Doha is hosting the world chess championship attended by more than 400 players from 75 countries, and over 5,700 participants from national federations, delegations, technicians and journalists in addition to around 30,000 fans and millions of spectators from all over the world. The prestigious competition that started on December 25th will wrap up on December 31st.