Shakhriyar Mamedyarov GM Official Webiste design
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov (Azerbaijani: Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster.
He is ranked as No. 1 in Azerbaijan and No. 3 in the world as of September 2018. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player of all times in chess history.
Mamedyarov has competed in the Candidates Tournament in 2011 (eliminated in quarterfinals), in 2014 (placing fourth) and in 2018 (placing second). He is a two-time World Junior Champion (2003 and 2005) and was World Rapid Champion in 2013.
A gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board, he is a three-time European Team Champion (2009, 2013, 2017) with Azerbaijan. He is also a two-time winner at Tal Memorial (2010 joint and 2014 Blitz) and Shamkir Chess (2016 and 2017), as well as the winner of 2018 Biel Chess Festival where he beat reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
Biography
In 2003 he won the World Junior Chess Championship.[1] He repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, achieving a 2953 performance rating after eight rounds,[2] earning an invitation to the Essent Tournament 2006 in Hoogeveen, and after winning this one and the 2007 edition, Mamedyarov achieved world fame.[3]
In 2005 Mamedyarov competed at the European Club Cup and had the second highest performance rating (2913) among all of the participants (Vassily Ivanchuk had the highest).
Mamedyarov attained joint first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2006, with a score of 6½/9.[4] In May he won the combined FiNet/Ordix rapd event.[5] In October 2006, he won the closed Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen with 4½/6, beating Judit Polgár on Sonneborn-Berger.[6]
At the Chess World Cup 2007 Mamedyarov reached the third round where he was knocked out by Ivan Cheparinov.
In 2008 he won the Corsican Circuit rapid knockout.
In 2009 he won the Mainz Ordix Open with 10/11.[7]
In 2010, he tied for first place with Vladimir Kramnik and Gata Kamsky at the President’s Cup in Baku,[8] followed by joint first in the Tal Memorial.[9]
In June 2013, Mamedyarov won the World Rapid Chess Championship, scoring 11½/15.[10] The next month he won the Geneva Masters rapid event.[11]
In November 2014, he won the Tal Memorial for the second time.[12]
In June 2016, Mamedyarov won the 3rd Shamkir Chess Tournament, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. He defeated both top seeds Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tiebreak situation with Caruana. He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him tournament victory.
In April 2017, Mamedyarov won the Vugar Gashimov Memorial for the second year in a row with a score of 5½/9.[13]
In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of the Gashimov Memorial, finishing fourth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7).[14]
From 28 May to 7 June 2018, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing seventh with 3½/8 (+0–1=7).[15]
World Championship cycles
In 2011, Mamedyarov was the tournament organisers' nominee, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012,[16] where he lost to Boris Gelfand in the first round.[17]
In the 2014 cycle, he qualified for the Candidates tournament by coming second in the FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13. He finished fourth in the Candidates, with a score of 7/14.
He failed to qualify for the 2016 Candidates. He came sixth in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, and was knocked out in the quarter finals of the Chess World Cup 2015 by eventual winner Sergey Karjakin.
In the 2018 cycle, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2018 by winning the FIDE Grand Prix 2017. He finished as a runner-up in Candidates one point behind Caruana, with a score of 8/14.