SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV (born Apr-12-1985, 40 years old) Azerbaijan [what is this?] Grandmaster (2002). U16 Champion of Azerbaijan (2000); U18 Champion of Azerbaijan (2000); European U18 Champion (2002); Champion of Azerbaijan (2001 & 2002); World U18 Champion (2003); World Junior Champion (2003 & 2005); Candidate (2011, 2014 & 2018). Preamble Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov (Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov) was born in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan and is one of Azerbaijan's all time great players following in the wake of Baku-born former World Champion Garry Kasparov. Grandmaster title Mamedyarov won his GM title directly by winning the World Junior Championship 2003, without winning any preliminary titles (ie FM and IM). Championships <Age> In 1997, Mamedyarov came second in Azerbaijan's U12 championship and continued his success in the junior nationals by coming first in 2000 in Azerbaijan's U16 and U18 championships. In 2001 he was runner up in the European U16 Championship with 7/9, half a point behind the winner Ernesto Inarkiev and in 2002, he came 2nd in the European Junior Championship with 7.5/11, a point behind the winner Zviad Izoria. Also in 2002 he set a record by winning the European under-18 Championship with 10 points out of 11. In 2003 he won both the under-18 World Championship (with 10/11 – 2 points clear of the field) and the World Junior Championship (2003). In 2005 he reclaimed his junior world title by winning the World Junior Championship (Boys) (2005) with 10.5/13 and raised his rating past the coveted 2700-mark in the process. This was the first time ever – and still the only time - that a contestant has reclaimed the World U-20 Championship title & the 3rd time (the previous being GM Roman Slobodjan of Germany & GM Pablo Zarnicki of Argentina) that a player has claimed this title in his home country (GM Pentala Harikrishna of India was the 4th of 5 players to win the World U-20 Championship title at home). <National> He won the Azerbaijan Championships of 2001 and 2002. <Continental> Following on from his solid debut at Aeroflot (see below), the untitled Mamedyarov scored 6.5/11 at the 3rd European Individual Championships (in 2002) in an immensely large field of grandmasters and international masters. <World> Mamedyarov chanced his arm at the last of the world knockout championship tournaments, the FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2004), where he defeated former Ukrainian Champion Valeriy Neverov and veteran Armenian GM Smbat Lputian in the early rounds before losing to Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu in the third round to exit the contest. In the World Cup (2005), which served as the qualifying tournament for ten of the participants in the 2007 Candidates tournament, he defeated Nurlan Ibraev in the tiebreaker of the first round before bowing out in round 2 to Evgeny Najer in the blitz playoff, after ties in the classical games and in the rapid game tiebreakers. In the World Cup (2007) , the winner of which would play Veselin Topalov to determine the challenger for the 2010 World Championship, and the top four of whom would qualify for the 2008-2010 Grand Prix series that would produce some of the participants in the 2011 Candidates, Mamedyarov advanced to the third round after dispatching Khaled Abdel Razik in round one, and Zdenko Kozul in round 2, before bowing out to Ivan Cheparinov in the 3rd round. In the World Cup (2009) , the winner of which would qualify for the World Championship Candidates (2011), Mamedyarov defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk , Vadim Milov , Wang Hao and Viktor Laznicka in the preliminary 4 rounds, before losing to Sergey Karjakin in the quarter finals. Mamedyarov participated in the World Championship Candidates (2011) by virtue of his being nominated by the organisers of the original venue (Baku) for the tournament. His participation remained intact although the venue was subsequently changed to Kazan in Russia. His lost to his first round opponent Boris Gelfand by 1.5-2.5 (+0 =3 -1), and was thereby eliminated from the 2012 World Championship cycle. He participated in the World Cup (2011), qualifying via his rating and entered the tournament as the number 3 seed. He defeated Egyptian player Hatim Ibrahim and German GM Daniel Fridman, before unexpectedly losing in the third round to young Ukrainian GM Yaroslav Zherebukh in the 25+10 rapid game tiebreaker, thereby exiting the Cup. He qualified to play in the World Cup (2013) via his rating, and beat Egyptian IM Samy Shoker in the first round, Russian GM Maxim Matlakov in the second round, and 14-year old Chinese wunderkind GM Wei Yi in the rapid game tiebreaker in the third round. However, he was eliminated by US GM Gata Kamsky in the Round of 16 (fourth round). Mamedyarov gave the other leg of his 2014 World Championship campaign an excellent start in October 2012 by placing =1st at the 1st FIDE Grand Prix London (2012) of the 2012-2013 series alongside Veselin Topalov and Boris Gelfand, scoring 7/11 (+4 -1 =6; TPR 2836) and accumulating 140 GP points. His =4th, a half point behind the three co-leaders at the FIDE Grand Prix Tashkent (2012), earned him another 80 points to take him into the lead for the 2012-2013 Grand Prix series with 220 points. A poor result in the FIDE Grand Prix Zug (2013), where he placed equal last with 4.5/11 was overtaken by the best result possible in the FIDE Grand Prix Beijing (2013), which he won outright to win the full 170 Grand Prix points for an outright win, which eventually secured 2nd place in the best-of-3 overall standings in the Grand Prix series behind Veselin Topalov who remained in first place in the wake of a solid =3rd at the same event. He therefore qualified for the World Championship Candidates (2014), where he placed =3rd (4th on tiebreak behind Vladimir Kramnik) behind Viswanathan Anand and Karjakin. Mamedyarov qualified by rating for the 2014-15 Grand Prix Series portion of 2016 World Championship cycle. He experienced a meagre result at the FIDE Grand Prix Baku (2014) with =9th, scoring only 35 Grand Prix points. He placed himself back in contention for the coveted top two positions that qualify for the Candidates tournament of 2015 when he scored 6.5/11 to place =2nd at the FIDE Grand Prix Tashkent (2014), adding 125 GP points to his tally, for a progressive total of 160 points, and 5th on the Series table. However, despite a respectable =4th at the FIDE Grand Prix Tbilisi (2015) which gathered another 75 GP points, his final tally of 235 GP points placed him at 6th in the Grand Prix series, outside of the top 2 qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament of 2016. Nevertheless, he qualified for the World Cup (2015) via the ratings path, and would have qualified for the Candidates Tournament in 2016 if he had made it through to the final. He fell just short of his goal, defeating young Iranian GM Pouya Idani in the first round of the Cup, Yifan Hou in the second round, Sethuraman P Sethuraman in the third round, Fabiano Caruana by 1.5-0.5 in the Round of Sixteen (round four) to advance to the quarter-final where he lost to Sergey Karjakin in the second set of rapid tiebreakers to bow out of the event. He qualified for the 2017 Grand Prix series via his rating and ended up taking out first place in the series, starting with equal first with 5.5/9 at FIDE Grand Prix Sharjah (2017) alongside Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, second at the FIDE Grand Prix Moscow (2017), half a point behind Ding Liren and clinching his Candidates qualification with equal fourth at the FIDE Grand Prix Geneva (2017). He had also turned out for the World Cup (2017), but had been eliminated in the second round by Yuriy Kuzubov. As it turned out, Mamedyarov placed equal second at the World Championship Candidates (2018) with 8/14, a point behind the winner Fabiano Caruana. Tournaments <1999-2007> In 1999, 2000 and 2001, Mamedyarov won 1st place in the BP Amoco Cup Tournaments in Baku. In his first foray into the Aeroflot A tournament in 2002, the then untitled Mamedyarov scored an extremely creditable 5.5/9, a point off the lead, in a veritable sea of Grandmasters. Still untitled, he came =2nd in the Saraybahce Euro Grand Prix in Turkey in 2002 , a half point behind Mikhail Gurevich and alongside Vasil Spasov, Baadur Jobava , Antoaneta Stefanova, Valeriane Gaprindashvili and Mihai-Lucian Grunberg . In 2003, he came 3rd in the 4th Young Masters (2003) in 2004, he came 2nd to Luke McShane in the 5th Lausanne Young Masters (2004), losing to him in the final; and placed 3rd in the 2005 edition of the Lausanne Young Masters. In 2004, he was the outright winner of the 6th Dubai Open (2004) with 7/9 and also the President's Cup in Baku. In 2005, he came =2nd at Corus Tournament: Group B (2005) behind Karjakin. Mamedyarov’s second win of the World Junior attracted an invitation to the Essent Tournament (2006) , which he won on tiebreak ahead of Judit Polgar , and then followed up this success by winning 11th Essent Chess Tournament (2007) . He won joint first place in Aeroflot Open (2006) in Moscow in February 2006, with a score of 6½/9, although Jobava won on count back. He came =1st with Gabriel Sargissian , Ahmed Adly , Pentala Harikrishna , and Igor Alexandre Nataf at the XXII Reykjavik Open (2006) with 7/9, with Sargissian winning on count back. In 2007, he came =2nd in the Mtel Masters (2007) with 5/10, half a point behind Veselin Topalov and won the 11th Essent Chess Tournament (2007) Crown Group with 4.5/6. <2008-2014> In 2008, Mamedyarov placed 3rd place in the Dortmund Sparkassen (2008) at Dortmund. His results in the 2008-2010 Grand Prix were modest. His best was 7.5/13 in the Baku Grand Prix (2008) , half point behind 3 joint leaders. Then came the Elista Grand Prix (2008) with 6.5/13 followed by 6/13 at the 4th FIDE Grand Prix (2009) in Nalchik. In 2009, he was =2nd alongside Valerij Filippov with 7.5/10 at the 4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament (2009) , half a point behind Le Quang Liem . In 2010, He was 2nd with 7/13 at the FIDE Grand Prix (2010) and he tied for first place with Vladimir Kramnik and Gata Kamsky in the President's Cup in Baku, and followed up with a joint win in the Tal Memorial (2010) alongside Karjakin and Aronian. In 2011, he scored 6/9 to come =4th in the Baku Open (2011) and in 2012 he scored 7.5/11 (+6 -1 =3) to come =3rd at the Tradewise Gibraltar (2012). He withdrew after eight rounds from the European Championship (2012) after forfeiting two games, one for arriving late under the controversial FIDE rule, and one for agreeing to a draw without asking the arbiters. In June 2013, he remained undefeated and placed =3rd (4th on tiebreak) at the category 22 Tal Memorial (2013). In April 2014, he participated in the inaugural Gashimov Memorial (2014), a category XXII DRR event that commemorates the late Azeri grandmaster, placing 6th. <2015- 2016> Mamedyarov competed in the Reykjavik Open (2015) and performed to rating with his 7.5/10 result, placing =3rd, a point behind the winner Erwin L'Ami and half a point behind the runner up Pavel Eljanov. This was followed by a relatively poor result at the Aeroflot Open (2015) where he finished two points from the lead with 5/9, and a rating neutral 4/9 at the Gashimov Memorial (2015). He competed in the powerful Qatar Masters (2015) and was leading in round 7 with 5.5, but lost his last two rounds to Carlsen and Sanan Sjugirov, finishing with 5.5/9. 2016 started at a relatively sedate pace with Mamedyarov scoring a rating neutral 6.5/13 to place in the middle of the field at the category 21 Tata Steel Masters (2016). A couple of months later, he was equal third with 7.5/10 (including a half point for a forfeit), at the Reykjavik Open (2016), another rating neutral outcome. In May 2016 he was equal first (second on tiebreak to Eltaj Safarli) at the Nakhchivan Open, his 7/9 being another rating neutral result. Then came the major breakthrough for the year - winning the category 20 Gashimov Memorial (2016) with 6/9 and a tiebreak rapid/blitz match (rapid games drawn 1-1, the first blitz game decisive) to defeat Caruana who also finished on 6/9. In. October, Mamedyarov broke even at the Tal Memorial (2016) to score 4.5/9 and maintain rating equilibrium. <2017-2018> The main feature of 2017 for Mamedyarov was winning the FIDE Grand Prix and a place in the Candidates 2018 (see above under Championships). However this did not overshadow a brilliant outright win at the category 21 Gashimov Memorial (2017) with 5.5/9, half a point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov. The new year kicked off with the category 20 Tata Steel Masters (2018), in which Mamedyarov placed equal third alongside Kramnik, scoring 8.5/13, half a point from the joint leaders Magnus Carlsen (who won on tiebreak) and Anish Giri. He was equal fourth at the category 21 Gashimov Memorial (2018) with 4.5/9. His best win to date arrived at the category 20 Biel (2018) which he won with a round to spare, after defeating Carlsen in the penultimate round to take a decisive two point lead coming into the final round. This win over Carlsen also pushed his live rating to its highest level yet, 2817.7. His final score was 7.5/9. Teams (1) Mamedyarov has long been an excellent and prolific team player. He has played in the Olympiads, World Team Championships, European Team Championships, the European Club Cup, the German Bundesliga, and in team championships in Turkey, Spain, Russia, Macedonia, Spain and China. <Olympiads> He played first reserve for Azerbaijan in the 34th Olympiad in Istanbul in 2000, and board 2 in the 35th Bled Olympiad (2002), the Calvia Olympiad (2004) in 2004, and the 38th Dresden Olympiad (2008) in Dresden. He played top board in the 39th Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad (2010) in Khanty-Mansiysk, coming 6th on board 1 with 6.5/10 and a 2778 TPR. At the Istanbul Olympiad (2012), he won the gold medal for board 3 with the stunning score of 8.5/10 for a TPR of 2880. He also played top board for his country in the Tromso Olympiad (2014) as well as in the Baku Olympiad (2016). <National - World Team Championship> In the World Team Championship (2010), he scored 8/9 on board 4 (TPR 2950), winning an individual gold and helping his team to 4th place. In the World Chess Team Championship (2011), he played board 4, scoring 5/9. <National - European Team Championship> Shakhriyar has played in every European Team Championship since 2001. He has won silver for on Board 2 in the European Team Championship in 2003, bronze with the Azerbaijani Chess team in the European Team Championship (2007), individual and team gold in European Team Championship (2009), individual gold (for board 3), team silver at the European Team Championship (2011), team gold at the European Team Championship (2013), and team gold and individual silver for board two at the European Team Championship (2017). <European Club Cup (ECC)> He has played in every ECC since 2004 inclusive. Highlights are winning: - gold on Board 1 of the Turkish club Eczacıbaşı SK at both the European Club Cup (2004) and the European Club Cup (2005) - silver on Board 1 for the Macedonian club SK Alkaloid Skopje in the European Club Cup (2007) in Turkey, and a bronze on Board 1 for the same club in the European Club Cup (2008) in Kallithea, Greece; - team silver for SOCAR Baku at the European Club Cup (2011) - team gold for SOCAR Baku in the European Club Cup (2012) - individual gold (for board 5) and team bronze for SOCAR at the European Club Cup (2013) - individual bronze (board 3) and team gold again with SOCAR, at the European Club Cup (2014) - team silver with SOCAR at the European Club Cup (2015) - individual bronze for top board with VŠK Sveti Nikolaj Srpski Valjevo (SNSV, Serbia) at the European Club Cup (2016) and team and individual gold (for board two) for Globus in the European Club Cup (2017). <National Leagues> He: - scored 7.5/9 on board five for the Termosteps Samara team in the Russian Club Cup (2006), scoring individual gold and helping his team to fourth place. - played board three for the Spasio-Swiss Moscow club in the Russian Team Championship (2008), his team finishing fifth. - played board three for the Malakhit Ekaterinburg club in the Russian Team Championship (2013), winning team silver. - was the best player of the French Club Championship in 2006, scoring 9 points out of 11. - played in the Chinese League, starting in the final four rounds of the 2015 season with the Hebei Sports Lottery club and then played in the first seven rounds of the 2016 season with the Zhejiang club - played in the 2015-16 Turkish League and - played in the Southern Bundesliga in the 2016-17 and the 2017-18 seasons. <Other> Mamedyarov led the Kings (seniors) team in the Nutcracker Match of the Generations 2017, the other "Kings" being Alexey Shirov, Boris Gelfand and Sergei Rublevsky. The team of the younger generation of players, the "Princes" were Vladislav Artemiev, Andrey Esipenko, Grigoriy Oparin and Daniil Yuffa. Mamedyarov's 3.5/4 (drawing with Artemiev) in the classical slow games lead the Kings victory in that portion of the match by 9-7 (18 points to 14 in the weighted system used n this event). The Princes clawed back the deficit in the rapid (15 + 10) portion of the event, winning it by 18.5-13.5 to win the overall event by 43.5-41.5. Mamedyarov scored 4/8 in the rapid portion of the event. Matches In 2003, he drew a match that was held in Azerbaijan, dubbed the “Match of Champions”, with Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami with a score of 3-3. In 2015, he met and defeated Austrian GM Markus Ragger by a margin of 3.5-2.5. Rapids Mamedyarov won the 2007 Rapid Tournament in the Czech Republic, the 2008 Rapid Tournament, Corsica, and the Ordix Open (2009), a rapid tournament, with a record-breaking score of 10/11. He won the World Rapid Championship (2013) with 11.5/15. At the end of 2013, he scored a reasonable 4/7 for =5th at the SportAccord World Mind Games (Men, Rapid) (2013) and an excellent 18/30 for =3rd at the SportAccord World Mind Games (Men, Blitz) (2013) to add 100 rating points to his blitz rating. His =5th with 13.5/21 at the World Blitz Championship (2014) took him to #6 in the world blitz rankings. Sole first place in the Tal Memorial Blitz (2014) with 16/22 took him to #3 on the world blitz ladder. A strong =2nd in the rapid section of the Mind Games event staged in Beijing in December 2014 provided a solid rating boost in this modality of the game, although his results in the blitz event, 17/30, proved to be a negative balance in the blitz section, dropping him to #7 blitz player in the world. He won the IMSA Elite Mind Games (Rapid) (2016) segment with 5/7 and one game Armageddon playoff win against co-leader Ruslan Ponomariov. He fared poorly in the blitz segment but was equal second in the rapid Basque (players using two boards against each opponent) segment behind Ding Liren. In June 2016, he scored 13.5/22 at the Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup of the President of Kazakhstan, boosting his blitz rating by 34 points. Soon after he destroyed the field to win the category 21 Tal Memorial (Blitz) (2016) by two points with 7.5/9. In October 2016, he won the (rapid) Tournament of World Chess Stars Devoted to the 680th anniversary of (the birth of) Amir Temur with 8/12. (2) The year wound up with Mamedyarov placing equal fourth in the World Rapid Championship (2016), scoring 10/15, a point from the shared lead. He took part in the first leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour in the rapid and blitz events in Paris, scoring modestly above rating, but took no further part in the series. In October 2017, he played board one for Sima-Land Ural (Sverdlovsk region) in the Russian Blitz Team Championship, and helped his team to win gold, his personal score being 10/14. He also played top board for his team in the Russian Rapid Team championship, and on this occasion he won team silver, with a personal score of 7/9. In March 2018, Mamedyarov contested the revised Tal Memorial format, placing second in the Tal Memorial (Rapid) (2018) with 5/9, a point behind former World Champion Viswanathan Anand. However, he fell out of contention for the overall prize when he performed poorly in the Tal Memorial (Blitz) (2018), finishing toward the tail end of the field. Rating Mamedyarov's best standard FIDE rating was 2820 in September/October 2018. Personal Mamedyarov’s father taught him how to play chess in the summer of 1993 and in that year he commenced attendance at chess school in Sumgayit where his first chess trainer was Valide Bayramova. Shakhriyar has two sisters, Zeinab Mamedjarova and Turkan Mamedjarova, who are both WGMs. Hobbies include football, bowling, music, ping-pong, horse-riding. Sources Almost all the information was derived from Mamedyarov's FIDE player card, the online This Week in Chess magazine, chess-results.com, olimpbase.com and https://en.chessbase.com/post/did-y... References Website: http://www.mamedyarov.com/en/show.p...; Live rating list: http://www.2700chess.com/; Everipedia: https://everipedia.org/wiki/Shakhri...; and Wikipedia article: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Footnotes (1) http://www.olimpbase.org/playersqn/... (2) aka Tamerlane: Wikipedia article: Timur Last updated: 2021-07-09 17:02:46

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page 1 of 143; games 1-25 of 3,558  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Mamedyarov vs M Gagunashvili   ½-½ 31 1999 Baku-C U18 E00 Queen's Pawn Game 2. Mamedyarov vs Radjabov ½-½ 53 1999 Baku-C U18 A90 Dutch 3. A Volokitin vs Mamedyarov   1-0 56 1999 Baku-C U18 C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 4. Mamedyarov vs F Abbasov   0-1 18 1999 AZE-ch E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto 5. A Volokitin vs Mamedyarov   1-0 30 1999 WCh U14 Boys C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 6. Mamedyarov vs H Tikkanen   0-1 50 1999 Wch U14 A57 Benko Gambit 7. Mamedyarov vs J Bernasek   ½-½ 41 1999 Wch U14 A48 King's Indian 8. Mamedyarov vs Navara 1-0 52 1999 WCh U14 Boys A48 King's Indian 9. Mamedyarov vs F Abbasov   0-1 26 2000 AZE-chT rap E63 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Panno Variation 10. Mamedyarov vs N Mamedov   ½-½ 32 2000 AZE-ch E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto 11. N Mamedov vs Mamedyarov   0-1 50 2000 AZE-chT C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 12. Mamedyarov vs F Abbasov   1-0 29 2000 AZE-chT E63 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Panno Variation 13. K Asrian vs Mamedyarov 1-0 44 2000 Dubai Open C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 14. Mamedyarov vs Dolmatov 1-0 36 2000 Dubai Open A48 King's Indian 15. A Guseinov vs Mamedyarov 1-0 83 2000 Dubai Open E94 King's Indian, Orthodox 16. Mamedyarov vs T Shumiakina   ½-½ 41 2000 Dubai Open D02 Queen's Pawn Game 17. Mamedyarov vs A Sadeghi 1-0 47 2000 Dubai Open D02 Queen's Pawn Game 18. B Abdulla vs Mamedyarov   ½-½ 31 2000 Dubai Open C81 Ruy Lopez, Open, Howell Attack 19. A Riazantsev vs Mamedyarov   ½-½ 41 2000 Dubai Open E82 King's Indian, Samisch, double Fianchetto Variation 20. Mamedyarov vs M Al Sayed ½-½ 55 2000 Dubai Open E63 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Panno Variation 21. Mamedyarov vs C Gokhale   ½-½ 28 2000 Dubai Open D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 22. D Smerdon vs Mamedyarov   ½-½ 62 2000 Wch U16 C28 Vienna Game 23. O Ismailov vs Mamedyarov 0-1 24 2001 AZE-ch U16 C42 Petrov Defense 24. R Babaev vs Mamedyarov   ½-½ 20 2001 AZE EUR-ch qual C42 Petrov Defense 25. N Guliyev vs Mamedyarov   0-1 38 2001 AZE EUR-ch qual C42 Petrov Defense  page 1 of 143; games 1-25 of 3,558

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 62 OF 80 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-02-10    parisattack: Shak seems to be working with his problem of nervousness - that's good! His new manager is also working wonders. However he's yet to find the right openings to match his style as Black. Unfortunately the current 'correct' parties such as the Semi-Slav, QID don't really bring out his best, IMHO. He's going to have to go 'out of the box' as Black, I think - although that does entail risk. Since you can't very well pawn storm as Black he may need to look at openings where Black can achieve play on either/both wings such as the Modern, Benoni (even the Franco-Benoni) and Dutch. Perhaps the French against e4. Not every game, of course, but enough to bring out his unique style with the Black pieces. As always I am sure he appreciates the advice of a ELO 2000 player, LOL! But he is my favorite SGM and I will continue to wish him to the top. Aug-15-10    notyetagm: Mamedyarov has won the <WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP> not once but **twice**, the only 2-time winner. World Junior Championships (2003) World Junior Championships (2003)/Shakhriyar Mamedyarov World Junior Championship (Boys) (2005) World Junior Championship (Boys) (2005)/Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Sep-19-10    parisattack: <MamedyarovFan:> Any fresh news or update on our hero? I have compiled some of the best games of his showing the motif of running the center pawns to break up the opponents position, make way for the heavy artillary to attack. I will find a few more then see if I can figure out how to add it as a collection here. I've decided the Polish Defence, Tiger Modern and Franco-Benoni would be good Black choices for Mamedyarov! :) Sep-21-10    MamedyarovFan: Hi <pariattack> No news really except that GM Mamedyarov is working hard on his chess. I suppose getting into the Candidates is a great incentive. I'm delighted that you are making a collection... I love his games in which he advances in the center :-) Sep-30-10    MamedyarovFan: Hi again <parisattack>. The game Mamedyarov-Ivanchuk Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk, 2010 in round 9 of the 2010 Chess Olympiad might be close to an example of of the motif you mentioned of Shak's penchant of 'running the centre' before making way for the heavy artillery to win games! Sep-30-10    parisattack: <MamedyarovFan: Hi again <parisattack>. The game Mamedyarov-Ivanchuk Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk, 2010 in round 9 of the 2010 Chess Olympiad might be close to an example of of the motif you mentioned of Shak's penchant of 'running the centre' before making way for the heavy artillery to win games!> Hello, my friend! Yes it is. I noted it as 'Patent Mamedyarov' a little earlier today. He really has that motif down to a science. Great game between two modern Power Players! Sep-30-10    AuN1: mamedyarov kicked ivanchuk's ace today. it was nice to see someone not get steamrolled by the ukranian. it was getting tiring hearing all the ivanchuk fanboys talking about what an unstoppable genius he is. Oct-03-10    MamedyarovFan: <Parisattack>: I love the term "power player" that you used at the Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk, 2010 page :-) On the same page, <Jafar219> says he thinks this was the best game of the Chess Olympiad (2010) . There were so many other exciting and extraordinary games too that it will be interesting to hear what the GMs adjudicate. I had been wondering, <AuN1>, if anyone could stop GM Ivanchuk's ... he sure played brilliantly throughout. Unfortunately GM Mamedyarov was ill since at least yesterday (the rest day preceding today's last round) so I am content with his draw against GM Jakovenko in the last round today. I hope Shakhriyar can play every future game like he played against GM Ivanchuk :-) Oct-04-10    parisattack: <MamedyarovFan:> I've compiled 14 nice games where Mamedyarov uses what I have christened the 'Shak and Awe' motif - pushing the central pawns through quickly to disrupt the opponents forces and bring up the heavy artillary. I also have three nice examples of him using the related Spassky Battery. Now, if someone can point me to a crib on creating a collection, I will load them up this coming weekend. (Curiously, I have two Shak and Awe examples from his play in 1999, so it really is Patent Mamedyarov!) Oct-09-10    MamedyarovFan: <parisattack> What a superb phrase "Shak and Awe". I predict that it will become a massively popular catchphrase in the future when Shakhriyar employs it in further aggressive games :-) . If you'd like your 14-game collection put on Mamedyarov's web site, www.mamedyarov.com, I will request it. Shakhriyar already has a collection of his favourite games there. But maybe you'd prefer to put them on this site. Oct-09-10    parisattack: <MamedyarovFan> Thank you! Below is my modest 'Collection' as it stands now and my even more modest notes on the Shak and Awe motif. You are of course free to use any of them or the attending comments on www.mamedyarov.com. NOW :) We must work on his Black defences so that I can do a Collection of a completely new Black technique someday soon! Shak and Awe - The Power Play Technique of GM Mamedyarov The key to the Shak and Awe is in a rapid and often early advance of one or more central pawns to the fifth and even sixth rank, keeping them mobile as long as possible. The goal is twofold: 1) To disrupt the harmony of the opponents position (to 'dynamite' it as Senior Master Marvin Sills once told me) 2) Make way for the advance of the pieces for (usually) a direct attack on the Black monarch. It is essentially a Power Play line-clearing and square-clearing method. GM Mamedyarov has a high propensity for mobile centers as a means to the ends of line and square clearing. The Shak and Awe is his go-to approach in many of his games. It may be as simple as advancing e5 to make e4 a square for a piece – or a full advance of three central pawns, with one often moving to the 6th or even 7th rank. Shak has more games as White with a pawn on d6 than any other player I have studied! While other attacking players such as Alekhine, Geller and Ivanchuk have used this idea - and line/square clearing are of course common strategic and tactical themes - GM Mamadyerov has taken it to an entirely new level of science and art! The motif is neither hypermodern where one keeps the center back and attacks from the wings – or classical where one attempts to maintain a broad pawn center. It is truly a Power Play technique of using the central pawns to make way for the pieces, disrupt the opposing forces. Because it requires an initiative to execute, it is almost exclusively a White technique. As you can see in the games I have gathered, Shak and Awe may be conducted pianissimo or fortissimo; largo or presto! The technique ‘resonates’ for me because of a lesson I was once given by a Senior Master on the QGA – “If you can play d5 without immediate and serious consequences to your position, do it, as it effectively dynamites Blacks position." Finally, the Shak and Awe is a kissing cousin to the Spassky Battery motif… and they overlap often in GM Mamedyarov’s games. SEE PART II Oct-09-10    parisattack: Shak and Awe - PART II Here are some examples of Shak and Awe. My favorites listed first. By playing over games in chronological order you will also see the idea in development over the years. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexander Morozevich World Team Championship 2010 • Gruenfeld Defense: Exchange. Modern Exchange Variation (D85) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Arman Pashikian World Team Championship 2010 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D44) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Vassily Ivanchuk Chess Olympiad 2010 • Benoni Defense: Classical Variation. Czerniak Defense (A79) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Le Quang Liem Dortmund 2010 • Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (D11) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Peter Svidler World Blitz Championship 2009 • Spanish Game: Exchange. Bronstein Variation (C69) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Viswanathan Anand World Blitz Cup 2007 • Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto. Nimzowitsch Variation Quiet Line (E15) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Dimitri Reinderman 6th European Individual Championship 2005 • Dutch Defense: Semi-Leningrad Variation (A81) • 1-0 ***** Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs David Navara WCh U14 Boys 1999 • Indian Game: London System (A48) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Nidjat Mamedov EYCC B16 2001 • Modern Defense: Queen Pawn Fianchetto (A40) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Cyril Marcelin 4th IECC 2003 • Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense. Exchange Variation (D41) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexandra Kosteniuk 4th Young Masters 2003 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D43) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Artyom Timofeev 3rd Aeroflot Festival 2004 • Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation (D45) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Rodrigo Vasquez 36th Olympiad 2004 • Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack (B30) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Artyom Timofeev 3rd Aeroflot Festival 2004 • Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation (D45) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Stefan Kristjansson 15th European Team Championship 2005 • Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Delayed Exchange Variation (D76) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Evgeny Najer FIDE World Cup 2005 • Queen's Indian Defense: Opocensky Variation (E17) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Sipke Ernst Corus Tournament: Group B 2005 • Queen's Gambit Accepted: Showalter Variation (D24) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Robert Kempinski Aeroflot Open 2006 • English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. Queen's Knight Variation (A26) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Vassily Ivanchuk World Blitz Cup 2007 • Semi-Slav Defense: General (D43) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Ian Nepomniachtchi Russian Team Championship 2008 • Semi-Slav Defense: Meran. Wade Variation Kaidanov Gambit (D47) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Anatoli Karpov Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Sergey Karjakin Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D44) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Pavel Eljanov Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Evgeny Alekseev Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs B S Shivananda 4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2009 • Gruenfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack. Grünfeld Gambit Capablanca Variation (D83) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexey Shirov Azerbaijan vs the World 2009 • Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Goglidze Attack (D70) • 1-0 Oct-09-10    TheFocus: <parisattack> Wonderful collection! But why did you not make direct links to the games? Be a lot faster. By the way, thanks for introducing me to this fantastic player! I love the <Shak and Awe> description!! Oct-10-10    parisattack: Hello <TheFocus> Thanks for checking in here. Yes, Shak is my favorite modern GM right now - I threw in the towel on Topalov! I think we tend to appreciate the players for whom we at least fancy we have an understanding of their play. For me historically that would be Morphy, Pillsbury, Botvinnik and Tal. Guess I didn't manage the technology correctly. Oh, well. Now those with an interest will have to go to Shak's page see all the other games! I have a dozen more Shak and Awes - the number of times he gets a pawn on d6 is quite amazing, at least to me. Oct-21-10    Jafar219: İ am very glad to see that Mamedyarov has such intellegent fans as <Parisattack> and <Mamedyarovfan>.The same thing İ can`t tell about myself.Because İ am not intellegent)) Here in Azerbaijan Teimour Radjabov is more popular than Mamedyarov and other players.Just because Radjabov became famous earlier.Also İ think Radjabov is more talanted player than Mamedyarov.Radjabov is just too lazy to play great chess.He is more interested in girls, parties and etc. Mamedyarov is hard-worker.I watched his interview last year.He said that chess his life and main job which makes money for bread. By the way Mamedyarov has facebook account - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!... Oct-21-10    parisattack: <Jafar219:> Thank you for checking in here! It seems to me we most appreciate the players who we at least fancy we understand something of their play and ideas we can at least attempt to emulate in our own games. For me that has been the likes of Pillsbury, Keres, Botvinnik, Tal and Mamedyarov. Thank you also for the Facebook link. Oct-30-10    MamedyarovFan: GM Mamedyarov is in Corsica playing Corsica Masters Oct 29-Nov 1. Time controls are 15 minutes + 3 seconds. He and Teimour Radjabov were seeded into the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, Shakhriyar beat Gawain Jones and today in the semi-finals he won against Loek Van Wely. He meets Teimour in the final on Monday Nov 1 and I hope he wins the masters like he did in 2008. Loek had played a simul against five players on October 26, and as part of his trip to Corsica, Shakhriyar, along with Teimour, Victor Bologan and Laurent Fressinet, played a simul against 60 juniors on October 28. In addition, on October 29 before the semi-final of the Masters, Shakhriyar played a blitz tournament (time limit: 3'+2") and won 9 out of 9 games! Among his opponents were David Alberto, Mark Bluvshtein, Victor Bologan, Lauren Fressinet, Gawain Jones and Igor Kurnosov. I am very happy for Shakhriyar :-) 9/9 is far from easy against such high-calibre opponents. Oct-30-10    MamedyarovFan: Fans of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov! I place below <parisattack>'s second-last message above with hyperlinks TO the games to which he refers. A detailed description of the theme being expounded by <parisattack> is carefully described in his third-last post above. --- <THE POWER PLAY TECHNIQUE OF GM SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV> <SHAK AND AWE -- PART II> <BY> <PARISATTACK> Part 1 is given in THE fourth-last message above by <parisattack> and there he describes the motif, logic and theme that must be present in a game by Shakhriyar in order that this game gains entry to <parisattack>'s exclusive "Shak and Awe" club! Bwlow are some examples of Shak and Awe. My favorites listed first. By playing over games in chronological order you will also see the idea in development over the years. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexander Morozevich • Mamedyarov vs Morozevich, 2010 • World Team Championship 2010 • Gruenfeld Defense: Exchange. Modern Exchange Variation (D85) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Arman Pashikian • Mamedyarov vs A Pashikian, 2010 • World Team Championship 2010 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D44) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Vassily Ivanchuk • Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk, 2010 • Chess Olympiad 2010 • Benoni Defense: Classical Variation. Czerniak Defense (A79) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Le Quang Liem • Mamedyarov vs Le Quang Liem, 2010 • Dortmund 2010 • Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (D11) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Peter Svidler • Mamedyarov vs Svidler, 2009 • World Blitz Championship 2009 • Spanish Game: Exchange. Bronstein Variation (C69) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Viswanathan Anand • Mamedyarov vs Anand, 2007 • World Blitz Cup 2007 • Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto. Nimzowitsch Variation Quiet Line (E15) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Dimitri Reinderman • Mamedyarov vs D Reinderman, 2005 • 6th European Individual Championship 2005 • Dutch Defense: Semi-Leningrad Variation (A81) • 1-0 ***** < ***TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3 OF 3 *** > Oct-31-10    Mr. Bojangles: This guy along with Topalov are my least favourite human beings - the 2 blacksheep of professional chess. I do not wish this obtuse character success at all. When he fails, I rejoice. Forget Mamediarov Oct-31-10    Mr. President: Thanks to <parisattack> and <MamedyarovFan> for their instructive collection. Oct-31-10    MamedyarovFan: <THE POWER PLAY TECHNIQUE OF GM SHAKHRIYAR MAMEDYAROV> <SHAK AND AWE -- PART III> <BY> <PARISATTACK> Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs David Navara • Mamedyarov vs Navara, 1999 • WCh U14 Boys 1999 • Indian Game: London System (A48) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Nidjat Mamedov • Mamedyarov vs N Mamedov, 2001 • EYCC B16 2001 • Modern Defense: Queen Pawn Fianchetto (A40) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Cyril Marcelin • Mamedyarov vs C Marcelin, 2003 • 4th IECC 2003 • Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense. Exchange Variation (D41) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexandra Kosteniuk • Mamedyarov vs Kosteniuk, 2003 • 4th Young Masters 2003 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D43) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Artyom Timofeev • Mamedyarov vs A Timofeev, 2004 • 3rd Aeroflot Festival 2004 • Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation (D45) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Rodrigo Vasquez • Mamedyarov vs R Vasquez, 2004 • 36th Olympiad 2004 • Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack (B30) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Stefan Kristjansson • Mamedyarov vs S Kristjansson, 2005 • 15th European Team Championship 2005 • Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Delayed Exchange Variation (D76) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Evgeny Najer • Mamedyarov vs E Najer, 2005 • FIDE World Cup 2005 • Queen's Indian Defense: Opocensky Variation (E17) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Spike Ernst • Mamedyarov vs S Ernst, 2005 • Corus Tournament: Group B 2005 • Queen's Gambit Accepted: Showalter Variation (D24) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Robert Kempinski • Mamedyarov vs R Kempinski, 2006 • Aeroflot Open 2006 • English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. Queen's Knight Variation (A26) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Vassily Ivanchuk • Mamedyarov vs Ivanchuk, 2007 • World Blitz Cup 2007 • Semi-Slav Defense: General (D43) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Ian Nepomniachtchi • Mamedyarov vs I Nepomniachtchi, 2008 • Russian Team Championship 2008 • Semi-Slav Defense: Meran. Wade Variation Kaidanov Gambit (D47) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Anatoli Karpov • Mamedyarov vs Karpov, 2008 • Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Sergey Karjakin • Mamedyarov vs Karjakin, 2008 • Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit (D44) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Pavel Eljanov • Mamedyarov vs Eljanov, 2008 • Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Evgeny Alekseev • Mamedyarov vs E Alekseev, 2008 • Tal Memorial Blitz 2008 • Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation (E20) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs B S Shivananda • Mamedyarov vs B S Shivananda, 2009 • 4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2009 • Gruenfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack. Grünfeld Gambit Capablanca Variation (D83) • 1-0 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Alexey Shirov • Mamedyarov vs Shirov, 2009 • Azerbaijan vs the World 2009 • Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Goglidze Attack (D70) • 1-0 --- Oct-31-10    polarmis: Apparently in this video interview (I say apparently because it's in Azeri and I'm relying on a Russian translation), Mamedyarov criticised Gashimov for spreading false information and damaging his reputation in the eyes of super-tournament organisers. And he basically repeated what the chess federation officials have been saying about Gashimov needing to apologise to the team (for Bursa earlier this year), though seeing as Mamedov and Guseinov support Gashimov the "team" can only mean Mamedyarov and Radjabov at most (I haven't seen Radjabov comment on the situation). http://news.day.az/sport/232933.html The whole situation's very murky but if anyone's interested I covered Gashimov being excluded from the Olympiad team in two articles: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... and http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... Oct-31-10    MamedyarovFan: Hi <Mr. President>. It was <parisattack>'s idea and it was all his work! All I did was find each game he referred to, and I copied and pasted the URL at the top of game page into a kibitz box here (although what one pastes is a web address, what actually appears when one posts the kibitz is a clickable link containing the two players names. As explained by <parisattack> on Oct-09-10 in his <Shak and Awe Part I> message above, the theme is based on a central pawn push by Shakhriyar. I saw a somewwhat similar theme based on an advance of the e4 pawn to e5 in the second Benko gambit game played by Shakhriyar against Gawain Jones in the quarter-finals of the Corsica Masters. Gawain, as Black, played the Benko twice against Shakhriyar, but I don't think these games are available online anywhere. Don't forget the final of the Corsica Masters tomororw Monday November 1 2010 between Shakhriyar and Teimour Radjabov. The games will be available live at the "live games" link at http://www.opencorsica.com/php/ According to http://www.opencorsica.com/php/inde..., the schedule is: 14 h 00 : Finale Aller Corsica Masters 15’ +3’’, 16 h 30 : Finale retour Corsica Masters 15’ +3’’ Times are local so are entral European Time) which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Oct-31-10    MamedyarovFan: Thanks <polarmis> for the three links... I had already read the second two on the excellent Chess in Translation pages. I am surprised at what you indicated may have been said in the video as I believe Shakhriyar is very apolitical, gets on great with all the team, and places high value on camaraderié! The link http://news.day.az/sport/232933.html seems to be in Russian (at least I was able to use Google translate to change it from Russian to English) while you say the actual video is in the Azerbaijani language. I'd be tempted to learn the Azeri language to find out what was actually said, ha! Oct-31-10    polarmis: Yep, the page is in Russian but the video's in Azerbaijani - here's the Russian summary of what Mamedyarov said: http://chesspro.ru/guestnew/looknul... The whole problem seems to go back to the World Team Championship in Bursa in January where Gashimov asked for a rest after two losses - and the team had what should have been an easy match against Egypt - but was refused (and he went on to lose that game as well). Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 80) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 62 OF 80 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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