Gabala hosted the “Vugar Gashimov Memorial-2023” supertournament’s closing ceremony.

The ninth supertournament honoring the memories of renowned Azerbaijani chess player Vugar Gashimov, an international grandmaster, concluded with a closing ceremony on December 11 at the Gabala Heydar Aliyev Congress Center. Speaking at the event, Mahir Mammadov, the Vice-President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, stressed that the primary goals of the “Vugar Gashimov Memorial” are to inspire and encourage young athletes, open up new opportunities for them, and get kids interested in chess. Sabuhi Abdullayev, the head of the Gabala Region Executive Power, thanked Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, for organizing the competition in Gabala and wished the competitors well in their upcoming endeavors. International grandmaster Ilaha Gadimova, the head referee of the supertournament, thanked the players for playing fair and clean and remarked that the competition was remembered for its exciting parties and fierce sporting rivalry. Vidit Santosh from India won the competition based on the sum of the points collected in rapid and blitz. With 22 points, the grandmaster outscored all of his competitors. Second place went to his fellow countryman Arjun Erigaisi, who was only 0.5 points behind him. Richard Rapport, a Romanian, finished the first “triple” with 19 points. Azerbaijani chess players performed the best, with Rauf Mammadov coming in first. With 18.5 points, he held the fourth position. Five-place finisher Aydin Suleymanli had the same amount of points as Teymur Rajabov and seventh-place finisher Shahriyar Mammadyarov, both with eighteen points. The following stages were decided by Jorden Van Foreest from the Netherlands with 17 points, Nijat Abasov with 15 points and Boris Gelfand from Israel with 10 points. Finally, the tournament trophy was given to Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India by Gasim Hashimov, the father of Vugar Gashimov, the head of the organizing committee. The tournament players received gifts as memorials. Gasim Gashimov thanked everyone for helping to organize the competition at such a high level, wished the competitors well, and declared the tournament finished.