Participants of the Vugar Hashimov Memorial 2023 have visited
the grave of the prominent chess player on the Second Alley of
Honor.
President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation and Vice-President
of the International Chess Federation Mahir Mammadov shared his
memories of the grandmaster and spoke about his achievements.
He noted that Vugar Hashimov`s achievements in world chess are
always remembered with great pride.
"Every Azerbaijani must be proud of Vugar Hashimov. His games
today are a textbook for young chess players. As long as there is
chess, Vugar will always be remembered," he said.
Member of the Azerbaijani national team Shakhriyar Mammadyarov
emphasized that participants in this tournament in the future will
be those who study at the Vugar Hashimov Chess Academy.
Israeli chess player Boris Gelfand said that Vugar Hashimov
occupies a special place in world chess. Boris Gelfand stressed
that he gladly accepted the offer to participate in the Vugar
Hashimov Memorial 202
For the first time, Gabala city will host the Vugar Hashimov
Memorial on December 7-1.
The chess tournament will bring together ten chess players,
Azernews reports.
The event is co-organized by the Vugar Hashimov Chess
Foundation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Azerbaijan
Chess Federation.
Despite his short life, Vugar Hashimov made a remarkable
contribution to the chess history of Azerbaijan.
He played for Azerbaijan's national team in the Chess Olympiads
in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008.
Gashimov won a bronze medal in the European Team Championship in
2007 and became the European Champion with the national team in
2009.
He was the European vice champion of the national team in 2011
and the winner of the Reggio Emilia tournament in 2010–2011.
The tournament was first held in Shamkir in 2014.
The current world champion Magnus Carlsen won the tournament
four times (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019), the national chess player
Shakhriyar Mamammadyarov won the tournament twice (2016, 2017).