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Nepomniachtchi Wins 10th Gashimov Memorial
Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Gashimov Memorial at his first attempt. Photo: Gashimov Memorial.

Nepomniachtchi Wins 10th Gashimov Memorial

PeterDoggers
| 25 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won the 10th edition of the Gashimov Memorial on Saturday in Susha, Azerbaijan. The Russian grandmaster, who played in the tournament for the first time, finished ahead of GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

The tournament continues to remember the Azerbaijani GM Vugar Gashimov, who sadly died in 2014, aged 27. Until 2019, it was an annual, classical tournament held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, that was won four times by GM Magnus Carlsen. After a break for the pandemic, it has continued as a rapid and blitz event in 2021 (Baku), 2022 (Baku), 2023 (Qabala), and 2024 (Susha).

The players started with a single round-robin of rapid chess at a time control of 15 minutes and a 10-second increment, with three rounds on Thursday and four rounds on Friday. These games counted double, with two points for a win and a point for a draw.

Nepomniachtchi, who had never participated in the tournament before, was leading the pack after those two days despite oddly losing one game to tail-ender GM Rauf Mamedov, who played a strong endgame. (Mamedov would eventually score 2.5/3 against the tournament winner!)

Rauf Mamedov chess
Rauf Mamedov did well against the tournament winner. Photo: Gashimov Memorial.

Rapid Final Standings

Gashimov Memorial 2020 Rapid

On Saturday, blitz was on the menu with a double-round robin (14 rounds in total) at a time control of three minutes and a two-second increment. GM Richard Rapport wasn't in great shape and finished in an overall shared last place with Mamedov. His first blitz game with Nepomniachtchi saw a very interesting tactical phase in the late middlegame:

Besides Mamedov, another local player also managed to win one game against Nepomniachtchi. 19-year-old GM Aydin Suleymanli, who won last year's rapid segment and is also known for winning the 2020 Aeroflot Open, got a winning attack that was easy to finish off:

GM Aydin Suleymanli chess
Aydin Suleymanli is already Azerbaijan's number-four player. Photo: Gashimov Memorial.

Nepomniachtchi took revenge in the final round of the tournament:

Blitz Final Standings

Gashimov Memorial 2024 Blitz

Overall Final Standings

Gashimov Memorial 2024 Final Standings

During last week's Titled Tuesday, GM Hans Niemann mentioned on his stream that he was originally supposed to play in the Gashimov Memorial as well: "Everything was agreed upon but because certain players complained they revoked my invitation." Chess.com reached out to the Azerbaijani organizers for a comment.

GM Vidit Gujrathi was originally on the participants list as well, and would travel to the tournament straight from the Olympiad. However, when it became known that India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to meet with the two Olympiad gold winning teams, the organizers understood this was something very special. GM Aravindh Chithambaram played instead.


The Gashimov Memorial took place September 26-28, 2024, in Susha, Azerbaijan. The rapid tournament (15+10) was a single round-robin and counted double; the blitz (3+2) was a double round-robin. You can find the games for replay here.

PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.

Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.

Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.

As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!


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