Vidit, Arjun, Jorden and Gelfand will play at this prestigious event for the first time
Four out of the ten players - Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, Jorden van Forest (NED) and Boris Gelfand (ISR) will play at the 9th Gashimov Memorial 2023 for the first time in their career. Nijat Abasov (AZE) participated in the B category of the inaugural edition in 2014. Teimour Radjabov (AZE) will be returning to this event after four years. His last appearance was in 2019.
Players
The tournament features five of the Azerbaijan's best players along with five world-class players around the globe. They are - FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 winner and World no.15 - Vidit Gujrathi, Romania no.1 and World no.18 - Richard Rapport, Tata Steel India 2021 Rapid, and Tata Steel Chess Challengers 2022 winner, World no.23 - Arjun Erigaisi, World Rapid 2013 champion - Shakhriyar Mamedyaraov, FIDE World Cup 2019 winner - Teimour Radjabov, 83rd Tata Steel Chess 2021 winner - Jorden van Foreest (NED), FIDE World Cup 2009 and Candidates 2011 winner, World Championship 2012 Challenger - Boris Gelfand, three-time Azerbaijan champion, Rauf Mamedov, FIDE World Cup fourth place finisher and Candidates 2024 participant - Nijat Abasov, World Youth Under-14 Open 2019 champion, Aydin Suleymanli.
For more photos, please click here.
Schedule
The Rapid tournament will be held in a Round-Robin system and the Blitz tournament will be played in a Double Round-Robin system with ten players. The Rapid event will take place from 8th to 10th December, the first round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. On the last day, Monday 11th December, a total of 18 rounds of Blitz games will be played starting from 2 p.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST).
Time Control
The Rapid tournament will be played in 15 minutes + 10 seconds increment. The Blitz event will have 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Scoring
Rapid: Win 2 points, Draw 1 point and Loss 0.
Blitz: Win 1 point, Draw 0.5 point and Loss 0.
Tie-break rules
The final standings will be determined according to sum of points of both Rapid and Blitz events.
Photo Gallery
On the way from Baku to Gabala, players and the organizing team halted at Abqora Restaurant & Wine Club for lunch.
For more photos, please click here.
We will bring you detailed coverage of the event as I am present on location for this iconic tournament.
Starting list of players in Rapid
| No. | Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Rapport, Richard | 738590 | ROU | 2735 |
| 2 | GM | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 13401319 | AZE | 2715 |
| 3 | GM | Radjabov, Teimour | 13400924 | AZE | 2691 |
| 4 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | 5029465 | IND | 2691 |
| 5 | GM | Van Foreest, Jorden | 1039784 | NED | 2655 |
| 6 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 35009192 | IND | 2654 |
| 7 | GM | Gelfand, Boris | 2805677 | ISR | 2622 |
| 8 | GM | Mamedov, Rauf | 13401653 | AZE | 2622 |
| 9 | GM | Abasov, Nijat | 13402960 | AZE | 2554 |
| 10 | GM | Suleymanli, Aydin | 13413937 | AZE | 2517 |
