Shamkir Chess International Wraps Up in Azerbaijan, Carlsen Bags the Title

The fifth edition of the Shamkir Chess Tournament, held in memory of Vugar Gashimov, wrapped up in Azerbaijan's western city of Shamkir on Saturday, ending an intense ten days of competition amongst the world's best chess masters.

Norwegian mega-brain Magnus Carlsen won the championship, with six points earned throughout nine games. A draw with the second-place winner, Ding Liren from China, was enough for Carlsen to scoop what was his third win in the tournament, following wins in 2014 and 2015.

"Shamkir is known quite well namely thanks to the chess tournament, we can say the city has successfully put its name side by side the capital Baku, which played a host to 2015 Chess World Cup and 2016 Chess Olympiad," Sanan Shafizade, a spokesperson for the tournament, told Caspian News.

"FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said Shamkir's name has already been included in the history of global chess."

Federacion Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), the governing body for world chess, classified the 2018 Shamkir Chess Tournament in the memory of Vugar Gashimov as the XXI category event based 2768 Elo rating, meant to be one of the strongest chess championships in the world. 

The Elo rating system is applied to calculate relative skills of chess players. A grand master's Elo rating depends on points he grabs from or loses to his high-rated rival in the wake of head-to-head games.

Sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, this year's tournament gathered ten grandmasters from around the world, including four from the Caspian region. Sergei Karjakin from Russia claimed third place, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan came in at number four. Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov and Fuad Mamedov took seventh and ninth places, respectively. 

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia was expected to compete, however one week before the start he withdrew his registration due to wanting to rest after playing at the Candidates 2018 tournament in Germany, which was held in March. Kramnik was replaced by Radoslaw Wojtaszek from Poland.

Vugar Gashimov was a chess grandmaster from Azerbaijan who became the world's youngest international chess master in 1998 at the age of 12. Gashimov has participated and won numerous chess competitions from Europe to China. He defeated Carlsen in the 2008 FIDE Grand Prize competition in Baku, and was a silver and bronze medalist in the rapid and blitz forms of chess. Gashimov died in 2014 from a brain tumor.