The first three rounds of rapid chess at the Gashimov Memorial ended with Nijat Abasov as the sole leader in the standings. Abasov, who is likely to play in the Candidates Tournament next year, beat Boris Gelfand and Richard Rapport in consecutive rounds to finish the day with 5/6 points (wins are worth 2 points in the rapid section). Sharing second place on 4/6 scores are Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and Rauf Mamedov. | Photo: Official website
No player has managed to remain undefeated after six rounds at the Gashimov Memorial in Gabala, Azerbaijan. Rounds 4-6 were played on Saturday and featured a number of entertaining encounters. Three players emerged as co-leaders, with Arjun Erigaisi and Aydin Suleymanli (pictured) joining early leader Nijat Abasov at the top of the standings, all with plus-one scores. A very closed competition, all remaining seven participants have either fifty-percent or minus-one scores. | Photos: Official website
The Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2023 will be held in Gabala, Azerbaijan, on December 8-11. Ten strong grandmasters will compete in a combined rapid chess and blitz tournament. The event is held in memory of the former world-class player Vugar Gashimov, who sadly died of a brain tumour in January 2014, at the age of 27.
The recently published articles <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/never-ending-saga-of-moroccan-chess">"The Never Ending Saga of Moroccan Chess, Part 1"</a> and <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/never-ending-saga-of-moroccan-chess-part-ii"> "Part 2"</a> described the sorry state of Moroccan chess and the unfortunate end of the International Prix Mohammed VI tournament, where the winners did not receive their prizes. This bizarre end of the tournament overshadowed the success of the young Latvian GM Paulius Pultinevicius, who won the event convincingly. | Photo: Paulius Pultinevicius after winning the Riga Technical University Open 2022 | Photo: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rtuopen">RTU Open Facebook</a>.
No more teams have perfect scores in either section of the European Team Championships. In the open tournament, Armenia joined Germany and Poland in the lead thanks to a 3-1 victory over Israel. In the women’s tournament, Germany joined Azerbaijan and France thanks to a 2½-1½ victory over Hungary. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen scored his third win of the event, as he helped Norway to grab 2 match points in their match against Finland. | Photo: Mark Livshitz