Teimour Radjabov

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Teimour Radjabov
Full name Teymur Rəcəbov
Country Azerbaijan
Born 12 March 1987 (1987-03-12) (age 24)
Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR
Title Grandmaster
FIDE rating 2773 (January 2012) (No. 5 in the January 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating 2781 (November 2011)

Teimour Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; Azerbaijani: Teymur Rəcəbov; born 12 March 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan) is a leading Azerbaijani chess player. On the January 2012 FIDE list, Radjabov has an Elo rating of 2773, ranking 5th in the world and first in his native Azerbaijan.

Radjabov earned the title of Grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time (to Bu Xiangzhi).[1] Radjabov's playing style has been described as attacking and tactically influenced.[2][3]

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] 2002

Radjabov is the youngest player ever to make the FIDE Top 100 Players list, therefore establishing himself as a chess prodigy.[4] His rating of 2599 in January 2002 ranked 93rd in the world while he was still 14 years old.[5]

[edit] 2003

In 2003, Radjabov defeated Garry Kasparov, 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]

[edit] 2004

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

[edit] 2006

On 22 February 2006, Teimour defeated FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov (rated 2801) with the black pieces[6] and subsequently won the second prize at the Super GM Tournament held in Morelia, Mexico and Linares, Spain.[7]

Radjabov represented his native Azerbaijan at the 37th Chess Olympiad in May and June 2006, playing board one for the Azeri team.[8]

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.[9]

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 3 December 2006, during the Creativity Festival 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.[10]

Rajabov against Veselin Topalov in Bilbao, 2008

[edit] 2007

In January 2007, Radjabov finished in joint first place at the Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian.[11]

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.[12]

[edit] 2009

In October 2009, he led the Azerbaijani team to victory at the European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad.[13][14]

[edit] 2011

In May 2011, Radjabov placed second in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012. There, Radjabov was eliminated in the quarterfinal by Vladimir Kramnik in blitz tiebreak, after a controversial incident of chess clock malfunction.[15][16]

On 8 October 2011 Radjabov got married after a spectacular performance rating of 3019 in the European Chess Cup Championships playing first board for the team SOCAR, with the team coming second overall.

In October 2011, Radjabov led the Azerbaijani team to silver medals at the European Team Chess Championship in Porto Carras. In November 2011, Radjabov reached peak Elo rating of 2781.

[edit] 2012

In January 2012, Radjabov competed in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee; the field included world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, world No. 2 Levon Aronian, defending champion Hikaru Nakamura and former world champion Veselin Topalov among others. The average rating of the field was 2755, making this thirteen-round event a category 21 tournament.[17] In the last round, Radjabov drew against Aronian with the black pieces in the King's Indian Defense. With the draw, Radjabov finished with 8/13 (+3), and tied for second place with Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, a point behind the winner Levon Aronian.[18]

[edit] Playing style

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Radjabov is well known for his amazing speedy moves and he's almost single-handedly responsible for the current revival of the King's Indian Defence.[19] He has been called an excellent counter-attacker, adept at seizing control after an opponent makes a minor mistake.[20]

[edit] Comparison to Kasparov

Radjabov's name is often mentioned in conjunction with that of former world champion Garry Kasparov. Hans Ree notes, "They are both born and raised in Baku, both shed the Jewish names of their fathers and both have profited of the patronage of the political leader of Azerbaijan, Kheidar Aliev."[21] Radjabov's lifetime score against Kasparov at standard time controls is one win, three draws and no losses.[22] (Kasparov's only win was in rapid chess.[23])

At the 2003 Linares chess tournament, Radjabov, who was 15 years and 11 months at the time, famously defeated Kasparov with the black pieces after a blunder, 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.[24]

Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
8 black king black king black king black rook black king black king black king black rook 8
7 black king black king black king black king black bishop black king black pawn black king 7
6 black pawn black queen black knight black king black pawn black king black king black king 6
5 black king black pawn black king black pawn white pawn black king black king black king 5
4 black king black king black pawn white pawn black king white bishop black knight black king 4
3 white pawn black king white pawn black king black king black king white knight black king 3
2 black king white pawn black king white queen white bishop black king black king white pawn 2
1 white rook black king black king black king white king black king black king white rook 1
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
Position after 21.Be2. Radjabov (Black) surprises Kasparov by sacrificing a knight for the initiative. (Or, is the sacrifice simple "desperation" in a bad position!?)

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 0-0-0 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. ... 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.[25]

However, the sacrifice was called "desperation" by GM Miguel Illescas, and according to Chessbase.com, "The Grandmasters we have talked to praised Radjabov's resilience in a bad position but criticized the game as unworthy of a prize because it was based on blunders."[25]

22. Qe3 Nd7 23. Qxe6 Bh4 24. Qg4 g5 25. Bd2 Rde8 26. 0-0-0 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 No. 1 in a game at tournament time controls.[26]

[edit] Notable tournament victories

[edit] Racism

To a question on how he felt about playing against the Armenian team, Teimour Radjabov, answered "..enemy is the enemy. We all have feelings of hate towards 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."[27] On 14 November 2007, in his speech for the FIDE congress in Turkey, the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov condemned Radjabov's words as "not permissible".[28]

[edit] UNICEF

On 11 May 2007 he was appointed as the UNICEF National Goodwill Ambassador for Azerbaijan.[29] He advocates 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.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chess News – Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters. ChessBase.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  2. ^ Corus Chess 2003 – Biography of Teymour Radjabov. Coruschess.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  3. ^ Chess software – ChessBase Magazine 115. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  4. ^ "Teimour Radjabov wins Cap d'Agde". chessbase.com. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3466. Retrieved 6 February 2011. 
  5. ^ [1][dead link]
  6. ^ Super GM Linares-Morelia. Chessbase.com (2006-02-22). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  7. ^ Chess News – Linares R14: Levon Aronian wins Morelia/Linares Super-GM. ChessBase.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  8. ^ The 37th Chess Olympiad. Ruschess.com (2006-06-04). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  9. ^ Chess news and events: Interview: Teimour Radjabov. Chesslodge.blogspot.com (2006-10-05). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  10. ^ "Meanwhile in Florence: Radjabov vs Deep Junior". http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3523. Retrieved 6 May 2011. 
  11. ^ Corus Chess 2007 – Report of round 13 – CCT 2007. Coruschess.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  12. ^ Teimour Radjabov withdraws from Morelia – Linares 2007. Chesscenter.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  13. ^ Сборная Азербайджана стала чемпионом Европы по шахматам (Russian)
  14. ^ Gold for Azerbaijan and Russia in Novi Sad. Chessvibes.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  15. ^ Aliyev, Elmir. "Скандальное поражение Теймура Раджабова от Владимира Крамника – ДОПОЛНЕНО". 1news.az. http://www.1news.az/sport/20110509090703912.html. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
  16. ^ "Раджабов не винит поломку шахматных часов в поражении от Крамника". http://sport.rian.ru/sport/20110509/372432191.html. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
  17. ^ "Participants – Tata Steel Chess". Tatasteelchess.com. http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/participants/year/2012/group/1. Retrieved 29 January 2012. 
  18. ^ "Levon Aronian Wins Tata Steel 2012". Chessdom. 2012-01-29. http://www.chessdom.com/levon-aronian-wins-tata-steel-2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012. 
  19. ^ "FIDE Grand Prix Series: Radjabov, Teimour". FIDE. http://grandprix.fide.com/teimour-radjabov-2.html. Retrieved 5 December 2010. 
  20. ^ Scimia, Edward. "Teimour Radjabov Profile". http://chess.about.com/od/famouschessplayers/p/Teimour-Radjabov.htm. Retrieved 6 February 2011. 
  21. ^ At the Corus Tournament. (PDF) . Chesscafe.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  22. ^ * Free online chess game search engine. Chessgames.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  23. ^ The Week in Chess 396. Chesscenter.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  24. ^ Chess News – Kasparov's outburst over beauty prize in Linares. ChessBase.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  25. ^ a b Chess News – Kasparov's outburst over beauty prize in Linares. ChessBase.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  26. ^ Nazarli, R. "Теймур Раджабов – самый молодой гроссмейстер за всю историю мировых шахмат". bakupages.com. http://www.bakupages.com/pubs/everydaynews/5043_ru.php. Retrieved 7 November 2010. 
  27. ^ Teymur Rajabov: The enemy is the enemy, we all hate Armenians, Chessbase, 12-11-2007
  28. ^ Президент ФИДЕ считает недопустимыми "шахматно-политические" обвинения Азербайджана, Regnum, 15-11-2007 (in Russian). Regnum.ru (2007-11-15). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
  29. ^ "Teimour Radjabov Meets Jean-Paul Belmondo". http://www.chessdom.com/teimour-radjabov-jean-paul-belmondo. Retrieved 6 May 2011. 

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