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 70 OF 80 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-02-13    MamedyarovFan: Shak just told me that before his participation in the upcoming Tal Memorial and his fourth Grand Prix, he will play in the World Rapid and Blitz from June 6 (http://www.chessdom.com/fide-world-...). Good luck to Shak. I think that <Eyal> and <parisattack> are very good contributors to (various pages of) Chessgames. Both make very objective and informed comments that give great insights. Jun-02-13    parisattack: Thank you <MamedyarovFan> but I am certainly not in the same class as <Eyal> - he's one of the <chessgames.com> Elites! Shak needs to put his nose to the grindstone, get his nerves in check, jiggle the tumblers on his defences to reach 2800. I just don't see the Caro-Kann for him. Sicilian Kan has his name written on it, with play on both sides of the board. Dutch against 1. d4 - both the Stonewall and the Classical can be mined much deeper, especially by a creative genius like Shak. The Franco-Benoni and 1. ...b6 to dispatch weaker players. I have a nice bottle of Krug Rose to pop as celebration when he hits 2800. It is at its peak for the next two years, so please tell him to shift things into high gear! :) Jun-03-13    MamedyarovFan: Hi <parisattack>. I just reminded Shak of your advice about openings. We want neither your Krug Rose nor his chess to get beyond their 'best before' dates! Shak will reach 2800 soon and like your Krug Rose, he will then get even better with age :-) Jun-08-13    notyetagm: FIDE World Rapid Championship (2013) Shark goes an incredible <5/5(!!!!!)> in the critical last five rounds to become <2013 WORLD RAPID CHAMPION>!! Congrats Shark! ---- Rounds 11-15 Nepo: +0 -1 =4 Shark: +5 -0 -0 Jun-08-13    amuralid: Tremendous final day performance by Shak to be crowned the new rapid chess world champion. Congrats Shak!! Jun-08-13    MamedyarovFan: Yes <notyetagm> and <amuralid>, what a great victory for Shakhriyar! Finally his fans have another world title to celebrate (he was world junior champion twice, in 2003 and 2005). Yesterday he told me he felt tired and did not have luck on his side. Today he seemed to have great energy and I notived him focusing rather intently! Today was very exciting because the gold, silver and bronze medals were not determined till the last (15th round). GM Shipov really liked the aggressive nature of the round 3 game between Shakhriyar and GM Le (Le Quang Liem vs Mamedyarov, 2013). I trust <parisattack> liked Shakhriyar's 18.e6 against GM Movsesian in their round 13 game (Mamedyarov vs Movsesian, 2013), and will now open the bottle of Krug Rose that was to be held 'in reserve' till Shakhriyar reaches 2800 :-) I was so happy that Shakhriyar kept highly composed in this tournament, just like he did when he won Ordix 2009 with 10/11 (Ordix Open (2009)/Shakhriyar Mamedyarov). In addition to Shakhriyar being World Chess Champion at Rapid, I hope he becomes World Blitz Champion in the next two days... and World Classical champion in the not-too-distant future! Jun-08-13    parisattack: MamedyarovFan ...I trust <parisattack> liked Shakhriyar's 18.e6 against GM Movsesian in their round 13 game (Mamedyarov vs Movsesian, 2013)> ...Yes, sweet! Patent Mamadyerov, using the central pawns for line clearing/disruption of forces. < and will now open the bottle of Krug Rose that was to be held 'in reserve' till Shakhriyar reaches 2800 :-)> ...Perhaps a nice Roederer Brut tonight to celebrate but I feel certain now my Krug will not go bad! < I was so happy that Shakhriyar kept highly composed in this tournament, just like he did when he won Ordix 2009 with 10/11> ...Yes, good point and a keen observation. A very positive sign - as was playing a Robatsch! ;) Jun-09-13    MamedyarovFan: If Shak's uncorking of <parisattack>'s suggested Robatsch opening does not warrant <parisattack>'s uncorking his cherished Krug Rose, we will wait for Shak to reach 2800 ;-) And the upcoming Tal Memorial (http://www.chessdom.com/tal-memoria...)will hopefully expedite this achievement! Jun-09-13    parisattack: <MamedyarovFan: If Shak's uncorking of <parisattack>'s suggested Robatsch opening does not warrant <parisattack>'s uncorking his cherished Krug Rose, we will wait for Shak to reach 2800 ;-) And the upcoming Tal Memorial (http://www.chessdom.com/tal-memoria...)will hopefully expedite this achievement!> Yes, and he played it quite well and - of course for Shak - creatively! The Roederer was good; the Krug will be even better after the Tal Memorial. Jun-18-13    rtschaefer: I get a kick out of all the "expert" armchair advise being dispensed here. Apparently, there are a ton of super GMs on the internet who have deep, personal experience on how blitz play negatively influences a candidate run toward the world championship. Oh...and the guy crushes Nakamura on the black side of a QGD earlier this year, but apparently he needs some "fine-tuning" of his openings on the black side. Cut me a freakin' break, LOL Jun-18-13    FairyPromotion: Wow <rtschaefer> that was totally uncalled for. The fans in this page (parisattack and MamedyarovFan) are actually some of the most genuine fans I've came across on this site, and they're even part of the reason I became a fan of Shak too. When you are a fan of a player (at pretty much any sport) you always believe there is room for improvement unless the said player is winning anything and everything. Mamedyarov is a player with unique style, and his openings can use some "fine-tuning" to fit his style better. As a matter of fact Shak himself is experimenting quite a lot, especially against e4. Of course he knows much more about openings than us posting here, but no one suggested that they should be hired as his seconds. And a win against Nakamura (who is not particularly known as an opening expert) doesn't change much. In fact that game showed just how effective Mamedyarov is at converting the point once he gets a decent plus. So why not work on getting the most out of the openings when you have such an impeccable technique? Bottom line is us fans merely try to give ideas, for fixing small nuances of his game, usually for stuff that might be easier to see from outside. In case these ideas reach to our favorite players the least they'll do is to point at the problem. The player can then tell whether the problem is actually there, whether the suggested solution is a good one, and if the answers are yes, then they are the ones to do some in depth work. No harm, and possible gain. :) Jun-18-13    parisattack: <FairyPromotion> Well said; thank you good sir! I've had a good-natured, running conversation with <MamedyarovFan> for a couple of years. I am sure he ( and <Shak>) know the spirit in which my posts are meant. Jun-23-13    parisattack: A very solid result for Shak at the Tal Memorial. A step forward for him, IMHO. But the Krug Rose is safe at least for now. ;) Jun-26-13    parisattack: Kramnik Shak'ed at the Geneva Masters! Jun-30-13    FairyPromotion: <parisattack: Kramnik Shak'ed at the Geneva Masters!> Deja Vu! Congratulations to Shak for the Tournament victory! He defeated Kramnik 1.5-0.5 in the final to win the event, and IMO if he wasn't draw happy for the second game he could have easily won that game as well. Next is the most important tournament of all. Best of luck to Shak in the Beijing Grand Prix, which starts after 3 days! Jun-30-13    parisattack: Yes, congratulations to <Shak> and thank you <FairyPromotion> for the timely good news! (Someone is certainly updating Shak's Wiki page quickly...) Jun-30-13    anandrulez: Congrats to Mamedrarov .Eyal , Mamedyarov gets dissapointed fast . He is a emo type , really strong , but a simple loss and he gets shattered - he won't play well in the next games . When he plays well he wins many games esp blitz. Jul-07-13    MamedyarovFan: Vintage <parisattack> for writing "Kramnik Shak'ed at the Geneva Masters!"! Shak appreciates the comments made by his fans like <ahmadov>, <parisattack>, <FairyPromotion> and many chess aficionados (not necessarily fans of Shak) who write considered opinions and input, including constructive criticism. I passed on <parisattack>'s opening suggestions, and being far more proficient at chess than me, he and others will be better positioned to determine if Shak adopted any suggestions (either specific openings, themes or approaches). While I have not asked Shak if he gained from the suggestions, one may assume that it made him more aware of issues, and as intimated by <fairypromotion>, this can't be a bad thing. Others have pointed out Shak's (erstwhile?!) tendency to get demoralised after losses. I expect most GMs at least read what is written about them… they are no less human and emotional as us chess devotees! Anyway, in light of today's win against GM Wang Hao, and yesterday's (lucky) victory against GM Ivanchuk, it looks like we may not have to wait too long for <parisattack> to share the Krug Rose with Shak, <fairypromotion> and many others to celebrate 2800 ;-) I have time to write only very rarely but will check this site soon after Shak reaches 2800 to offer my share of the Krug to <parisattack> for being solely responsible for Shak's recent wins!! Seriously, have a look at http://livegames.fide.com/beijing20... for a nice analysis by Shak and GM Wang Hao after today's game. GM Wang Hao seems like a lovely kind man. Shak told me last night that unfortunately he is very tired. Just after his game against GM Ivanchuk, Shak wrote: “Today I played my 81st game in a single month! My average ELO in 81 games is 2725. This means the average rating of my opponents was 2725. I am too tired but I must play eight more games and will do my best.” Shak is referring to the World Rapid and Blitz, the Tal Memorial and the first Geneva Masters, in two of which he placed first. In today’s game against GM Wang Hao, Houdini criticised a number of Shak’s moves. Just now Shak told me that today’s game was a very good one, that he is very tired because he worked on this opening line after losing to GM Nakamura in Zug (see Mamedyarov vs Nakamura, 2013 ), and that he wanted to beat GM Wang Hao following a loss to him in Tashkent [Wang Hao vs Mamedyarov, 2012! On a related point, during Tal Memorial (2013) Shak said that after losing with White to GM Nakamura in the above-cited Zug game, he wanted to beat him with Black. So when GM Nakamura chose #5 at the drawing of lots at the Tal Memorial, Shak deliberately chose #6 and got to win with Black in game 1 Nakamura vs Mamedyarov, 2013. GM Nakamura was gentlemanly and magnanimous in defeat and as you will know, later won the next three games in a row in that tournament. It seems one reads almost as many negative as positive comments about the super-GMs. While we all have our favourites, I fans would be more aware that the great layers are merely endeavouring to eke out a living while producing works of art. The disappointment they experience in losing games is not well offset by the limited remuneration and creative satisfaction they glean from victories! While I would much prefer to see Shak have a higher rating than, say, GM Carlsen, I must say that GM Carlsen and his father are like Shak’s family really nice people with great modesty that nicely complements the underlying genius. Incidentally, Shak also said that he does not know how he let GM Carlsen slip away with a draw in their Tal Memorial 2013 game. It seems much centered around Shak playing 17.Kg2 instead of the computer’s suggestion 17.Bb2. See comments by < Eyal> at Mamedyarov vs Carlsen, 2013. Jul-07-13    Estoc: Has Mamedyarov apologized for accusing Kurnosov of cheating? Jul-07-13    parisattack: <....it looks like we may not have to wait too long for <parisattack> to share the Krug Rose with Shak, <fairypromotion> and many others to celebrate 2800 ;-)> I may need to invest in a second bottle! The rumor is that <MamedyarovFan> will want one full bottle just to himself. ;) Jul-07-13    Shams: <Estoc> I spent a few minutes the other day searching the net for the answer to that very question. Didn't find anything. Jul-08-13    FairyPromotion: <MamedyarovFan> Great post!! The win against GM Wang Hao seemed like a spectacular one, and it made me think of the game at the Tashkent GP as well. The loss in that game was a really tough one, as a draw would've meant 60 additional GP points, putting Shak in a really comfortable zone in the overall standings. Now even with a clear first place in this event he still may end up under GMs Topalov, Caruana, and Karjakin in the overall standings. GM Grischuk may still have some hope as well. GM Topalov is obviously in the command, as he only needs 90 points for a ticket to the candidates, and only 80 to finish ahead of Shak. GM Caruana's two best results are giving him 225 pts, 5 more than Shak's best so far. Thus Shak needs to finish better in this GP, than GM Caruana will finish in the next GP. GM Karjakin has 140 pts from his best performance, and has 2 tournaments to add to that. He is doing extremely well so far in Beijing, and I like his chances better than Shak or GM Caruana. I really wish all 4 of these players make it to the candidates, but the two I want to make it out of the GP series are Shak and GM Topalov. Best of luck to them! Jul-08-13    FairyPromotion: <Estoc: Has Mamedyarov apologized for accusing Kurnosov of cheating?> Well, here's my two cents on this (OK, it became a couple of bucks as I kept on writing): First off, why should he? Unless Kurnosov was proven innocent. I wasn't following chess at the time that game was played, but I'm familiar with the game, and went on to review it, and read the comments on the game page, as well as some other sites (namely chessbase). My conclusion: The chess fans are really naive. I can't believe how quickly everyone is passing judgments on cases they have very little information, and always sympathize with the accused player, making him the victim. Everyone needs to realize that cheating is a much bigger threat than false accusations. People nowadays cheat on unrated online games they play, so why should OTB games where there are actual prizes be fair at all costs? However reading the replies from that game one sees that 80% of the posters have their minds made up that Kurnosov is innocent, and Mamedyarov is the bad guy. That reminded me of the first time I read about the cheating scandal at Zadar 2012. Look at the awesome feedback fans gave then: http://en.chessbase.com/home/TabId/... . Someone even compared Borislav Ivanov with... wait for it... Jose Raul Capablanca. Should I laugh, or shake my head? It only took a series of videos by Lilov (who, in case you might ask, didn't apologize to Ivanov for his accusations), and some lemons like losing to 1900 rated opponents to change the public view. However it shouldn't be the norm. Being at a certain strength isn't an obstacle for cheating, and chess players at all levels can possibly cheat. Thus they should understand, and even be helpful if such accusations come up. Now after I wrote all that you might assume that I have made my mind up as well, just that I believe the opposite. However I haven't. In fact I tend to believe that Kurnosov isn't guilty. That being said, while I'm quite uncertain with my opinion on Kurnosov, I agree with almost all of Mamedyarov's actions. First he actually offered a draw at move 14, while still within theory, and his opponent refused it, despite playing a player rated 100 points higher than him with the black pieces. While there is nothing wrong with it, and it's possible that Kurnosov was well prepared for the line played, accepting the offer was probably the smarter choice at that situation. Nevertheless I won't speculate on this as I can understand both decisions. Second, and most importantly, Mamedyarov complained at the arbiters during the game, and no action was taken. To me that is inexcusable, and reasons the rest of his actions. I think he genuinely believed that his opponent was cheating, otherwise he wouldn't have acted the way he did (complain to the arbiter, resign in a still playable position, resign without shaking hands, and withdraw from the tournament). But if the arbiters and/or organizers are not willing to elaborate, then continuing like nothing happened is not the way to go. He should have taken a stand, and he did, and the chess fans should appreciate that. Whether or not Kurnosov cheated doesn't even matter much. Players should be ensured they are playing on an even field, otherwise the whole game suffers. Thus to me Mamedyarov represents the right, and the arbiters, not GM Kurnosov, represent the wrong. The sad part of all this is that the game itself is spectacular, with one of the nastiest finishing moves out there. The brilliancy of the game is really underrated now, and seems like it had a negative effect on both players. Jul-08-13    Shams: <FairyPromotion> <First off, why should he [apologize]? Unless Kurnosov was proven innocent.> You know perfectly well that's impossible to prove. Anyway, you give the answer yourself to why he should have apologized-- Kurnosov likely did nothing wrong: <Thus to me Mamedyarov represents the right, and the arbiters, not GM Kurnosov, represent the wrong.> Kurnosov found like three tough moves in that game. You're not the only one that believes he probably didn't cheat. If there was a single player other than Mamedyarov that found either Kurnosov's behavior or play suspicious that day, I didn't hear of it. <First he actually offered a draw at move 14, while still within theory, and his opponent refused it, despite playing a player rated 100 points higher than him with the black pieces. While there is nothing wrong with it, and it's possible that Kurnosov was well prepared for the line played, accepting the offer was probably the smarter choice at that situation.> I don't even know what to say about this. Maybe Kurnosov wanted to, you know, play chess? Now you're suspicious if you don't accept a GM draw against a moderately higher rated player?? Jul-08-13    FairyPromotion: <Shams> :) <Kurnosov likely did nothing wrong> This is also pure speculation. Again even if he didn't cheat, he could do wrong things that would give the impression of him cheating. And that should be a good enough reason for Mamed to complain. And if his complaints are ignored, as I said earlier, he can take a stand, whether or not his complaints will be proven wrong in the future. Just make analogies with Ivanov's case. What did Ivanov do wrong, to get disqualified from future events? The only thing we have is Ivanov not actually being as strong as Kurnosov, but nothing on their behavior during the games. That <proves> Ivanov's guilt, not Kurnosov's innocence. <Kurnosov found like three tough moves in that game. You're not the only one that believes he probably didn't cheat. If there was a single player other than Mamedyarov that found either Kurnosov's behavior or play suspicious that day, I didn't hear of it.> The moves that Kurnosov found are not such easy moves as you make. Moves like 21...Qd2 are not mere 1 move threats, but are delicate combinations in delicate positions. Just because a move is the only move, doesn't make it easy to spot. I've seen in numerous games them being missed by elite GMs. Even in world championships, Karpov offering a draw on game 16 of 1984 match (when <37...Rd5> was winning), or Topalov missing 32. Rxg4+ in game 2 against Kramnik immediately come to mind. Again I don't think a strong GM finding these moves over the board is impossible, much less if he was actually prepared for the line. But the moves of that game are not "punishing the patzer" moves. They were "a strong GM in his good day" moves. <I don't even know what to say about this. Maybe Kurnosov wanted to, you know, play chess? Now you're suspicious if you don't accept a GM draw against a moderately higher rated player?> I think I wasn't clear with this. I was thinking to list things that made <Mamedyarov> believe that Kurnosov was cheating, and not my personal take on the situation. Of course I agree wholeheartedly that the desire to play chess is a good enough reason to refuse such an offer, in fact it is the best one out there. 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