International chess tournament to be held in Azerbaijan

International chess tournament to be held in Azerbaijan
06.05.09 19:30
Azerbaijan, Baku, May 6 / Trend News A. Huseynbala /

Chess tournament Cup of President dedicated to memory of national leader Heydar Aliyev will be held in Baku on May 7. Azerbaijani team and world squad will participate in the tournament for cup.

“Such international tournaments are held to increase interest towards chess in Azerbaijan,” the Azerbaijani chess federation president Elman Rustamov said at the press-conference on May 6.

The tournament was organized by the international chess federation, the ministry of youth and sport, the national Olympic committee and the Azerbaijani chess federation.

Nine talented chess players will take part in the tournament. Four of them stand for the international chess federation. They are world champion Vishvanatan Anand (India), vice-champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), finalist of the last world cup Alexei Shirov (Spain) and the last winner of the tournament in Wijk aan Zee Sergey Karakin (Ukraine).

Azerbaijani team consists of 5 chess players: Teymur Rajabov, Vugar Hashimov, Shahriyar Mamedyarov, Gadir Huseynov and Rauf Mammadov. The last two participants will replace each other.

The winner will get the cup brought from Turkey. If our team wins, cup will remain in office of the Azerbaijani chess federation. In other case, the cup will be in museum of the international chess federation. The tournament will complete on May 9. But it is not the end of chess holiday. Chess-play will be held in the national park on May 10.

Besides participants of our team, Vladimir Kramnik is expected to participate in the chess-play.

Source: http://news-en.trend.az