Teimour Radjabov

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
Teimour Radjabov
Full name Teymur Rəcəbov
Country Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
Born March 12, 1987 (1987-03-12) (age 21)
Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR
Title Grandmaster
FIDE rating 2751
(No. 8 on the April 2008 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating 2751 (April 2008)

Teimour Radjabov, also spelled Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijani: Teymur Rəcəbov; born March 12, 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR), is a leading Azerbaijani chess player. On the April 2008 FIDE list, Radjabov has an Elo rating of 2751, ranking eighth in the world and second in his native Azerbaijan. Radjabov earned the title of International Grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time.[1] Radjabov's playing style has been described as attacking and tactically influenced.[2][3]

Contents

[edit] Radjabov and Kasparov

Radjabov's name is often mentioned in conjunction with that of former world champion Garry Kasparov. Both are from Baku, Azerbaijan and both men have Jewish fathers.[4] Radjabov's lifetime score against Kasparov at standard time controls is 1 win, 3 draws and no losses.[5] (Kasparov's only win was in rapid chess.[6])

At the 2003 Linares chess tournament, Radjabov, who was 15 at the time, famously defeated Kasparov with the black pieces in a wild tactical affair out of the French Defense, thus becoming the youngest player ever to defeat the world's number one player in tournament play. The game was later voted the most beautiful game of the tournament, generating an angry outburst from Kasparov.[7]

Image:chess zhor 26.png
Image:chess zver 26.png a8 b8 c8 kd d8 rd e8 f8 g8 h8 rd Image:chess zver 26.png
a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 bd f7 g7 pd h7
a6 pd b6 qd c6 nd d6 e6 pd f6 g6 h6
a5 b5 pd c5 d5 pd e5 pl f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 pd d4 pl e4 f4 bl g4 nd h4
a3 pl b3 c3 pl d3 e3 f3 g3 nl h3
a2 b2 pl c2 d2 ql e2 bl f2 g2 h2 pl
a1 rl b1 c1 d1 e1 kl f1 g1 h1 rl
Image:chess zhor 26.png
In this position Radjabov surprises Kasparov by sacrificing a knight for the initiative.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. a3 Qb6 10. Ne2 c4 11. g4 h5 12. gxh5 Rxh5 13. Ng3 Rh8 14. f5 exf5 15. Nxf5 Nf6 16. Ng3 Ng4 17. Bf4 Be6 18. c3 Be7 19. Ng5 O-O-O 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Be2 (Diagram)
21...Ngxe5!?

Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the waters to throw you off track. He is very good at finding disconcerting moves. Here he unbalances Kasparov completely, disturbing his rhythm of play. The move probably caused the Great Player to fall off his chair." Continued Short, "Instead of simply allowing Kasparov to grind him down he unbalanced the game with his knight sacrifice, and six moves later Kasparov had blundered. That was the point of Radjabov's sacrifice – it was not sound but it gave him these practical chances."[8]

22. Qe3 Nd7 23. Qxe6 Bh4 24. Qg4 g5 25. Bd2 Rde8 26. O-O-O Na5 27. Rdf1

Considered to be the decisive mistake

27...Nb3+ 28. Kd1 Bxg3

White cannot recapture the bishop due to the immediate threat of Qg6

29. Rf7 Rd8 30. Bxg5 Qg6 31. Qf5 Qxf5 32. Rxf5 Rdf8 33. Rxf8+ Nxf8 34. Bf3 Bh4 35. Be3 Nd7 36. Bxd5 Re8 37. Bh6 Ndc5 38. Bf7 Re7 39. Bh5 Nd3 0-1.

Radjabov became the first player born since Kasparov first became World Chess Champion in 1985 to defeat him. It is also believed that Radjabov became the youngest player in history to defeat a reigning world #1 in a game at tournament time controls.[citation needed]

[edit] Other Career Highlights

Radjabov is the youngest player ever to make the FIDE Top 100 Players list. His rating of 2599 in January 2002 ranked 93rd in the world while he was still 14 years old.[9]

In 2003, Radjabov defeated Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov with the black pieces. He is probably the first player ever to beat three former and reigning FIDE World Chess Champions with the black pieces in one year.[citation needed]

Radjabov reached the semi-finals (earning a bronze medal) at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004.

On February 22, 2006, Teimour defeated FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov (rated 2801) with the black pieces[10] and subsequently won the second prize at the Super GM Tournament held in Morelia, Mexico and Linares, Spain.[11]

Radjabov represented his native Azerbaijan at the 37th Chess Olympiad in May and June 2006, playing board one for the Azeri team.[12]

In an interview given on October 2006, Radjabov said that he will challenge the winner of Topalov-Kramnik unification match to a World Championship match under the rules of FIDE.[13]

In November 2006, Radjabov won strong Cap d'Agde tournament, advancing from second place of round robin to the elimination phase. He then went on to win the final against Sergey Karjakin

On 3rd December 2006, during the Creativity Festival [1] in Florence(Tuscany, Italy), Radjabov played against Deep Junior, the chess engine that won the Turin World Computer Chess Championship. The match was won by Deep Junior.[14]

In January 2007, Radjabov finished in joint first place at the Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian.[15]

Radjabov was also to play the Morelia/Linares Tournament 2007, but due to a robbery of some of his belongings in Mexico, he withdrew from the tournament. His position was taken by Vassily Ivanchuk.[16]

To a question on how he felt about playing against the Armenian team, Teimour Radjabov, answered "..enemy is the enemy. We all hate them." He later issued a clarification, saying statements were sometimes attributed to him "in a supernormal form," and that while "we do not have simple relations with Armenia," he would "never stoop to pathological nationalism."[17] In November 14, 2007, in his speech for the FIDE congress in Turkey, the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov condemned Radjabov's words as "not permissible".[18].

[edit] Recent news

On May 11, 2007 he was appointed as the UNICEF National Goodwill Ambassador for Azerbaijan. Teimour said he will advocate for the cause of the universal salt iodization in the country. UNICEF Representative in Azerbaijan Hanaa Singer stated that they were very pleased to have Teimour in the work to improve the lives of children and young people in Azerbaijan. They were confident that Teimour would become an outspoken and active advocate for the cause, using his great talents to inspire young people. Recently on the 24th of december, Radjabov Teimour defeated the Lebanese Chess Champion Ali el-Hajj Sleiman with the black pieces in a wild tactical affair out of the French Defense.[19]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/newsprint.asp?newsid=2858
  2. ^ http://www.coruschess.com/participants.php?year=2003&group=1&bio=13
  3. ^ http://80.237.188.68/shop/product.asp?pid=307
  4. ^ http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hans55.pdf
  5. ^ http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=49796&pid2=15940
  6. ^ http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic396.html
  7. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=851
  8. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/eventarticle.asp?newsid=851
  9. ^ http://fide.com/ratings/toplist.phtml?list=men
  10. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/news/2006/linares/games/linares04.htm
  11. ^ http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2974
  12. ^ http://www.ruschess.com/News/2006/Olymp/teams.html
  13. ^ http://chesslodge.blogspot.com/2006/10/gm-teimour-radjabov-speaks-for-wcn.html
  14. ^ http://www.macchinacrea.editarea.com
  15. ^ http://coruschess.com/report.php?year=2007&report=13
  16. ^ http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/radjlinmor07.html
  17. ^ Teymur Rajabov: The enemy is the enemy, we all hate Armenians, Chessbase, 12-11-2007
  18. ^ Президент ФИДЕ считает недопустимыми "шахматно-политические" обвинения Азербайджана, Regnum, 15-11-2007 (in Russian)
  19. ^ http://azernews.net/view.php?d=8313

[edit] External links