Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov (Azerbaijani: Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov[a], is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. As of December 2023,[update] he is Azerbaijan's highest rated chess player. His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player in chess history.
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.
Personal life
Shakhriyar's parents are from the Zangilan District of Azerbaijan. In 1980, his family moved to the then-flourishing industrial city of Sumqayit, Azerbaijan, where Shakhriyar was born. His first chess trainer was his father, who is also a former boxer and taught boxing to Shakhriyar for some time. Mamedyarov has two sisters, Zeinab Mamedyarova and Turkan Mamedyarova, who are Woman Grandmasters.[1] Mamedyarov got married in 2012,[2] but later divorced. He remarried in July 2017.[3]
Professional chess career
In 2003, Mamedyarov won the World Junior Chess Championship.[4] He repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, while achieving a 2953 performance rating after eight rounds.[5] This performance earned him an invitation to the Essent Tournament 2006 in Hoogeveen. After winning this and the 2007 edition, Mamedyarov achieved world fame.[6]
In 2005 Mamedyarov competed at the European Club Cup and had the second-highest performance rating (2913), after Vassily Ivanchuk, of all of the participants.
Mamedyarov attained joint first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2006, with a score of 6½/9.[7] In May, he won the combined FiNet/Ordix rapid event.[8] In October 2006, he won the closed Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen with 4½/6, beating Judit Polgár on Sonneborn-Berger tie-breaks.[9]
In June 2013, Mamedyarov won the World Rapid Chess Championship, scoring 11½/15.[13] The next month he won the Geneva Masters rapid event.[14]
In November 2014, he won the Tal Memorial for the second time.[15]
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.[16]
In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of the Gashimov Memorial, finishing fourth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7).[17]
From 28 May to 7 June 2018, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing seventh with 3½/8 (+0–1=7).[18]
In June 2021, Mamedyarov won Superbet Chess Classic tournament in which Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So participated. [23]
Through February and March 2022, Mamedyarov played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022. In the second leg, he placed second in Pool D with a 3/6 result. In the third leg, he won his pool with a result of 3.5/6 and a 3/4 result in rapid and blitz tiebreakers against Vincent Keymer.
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.
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.
Mamedyarov played for Azerbaijan at the Chess Olympiads of 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018.[26] In 2009, 2013 and 2017 he won the team gold medal for Azerbaijan at the European Team Chess Championship, having won the bronze medal in 2007 and silver in 2011.[27][28]
Tournament victories
Mamedyarov at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Shamkir Chess tournament.
^Based on the translation of his name into Russian: Шахрияр Гамид оглы Мамедьяров, romanized: Shakhriyar Gamid ogly Mamed'yarov
References
^"Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's official web-site". Mamedyarov.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
^"Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Got Married (PHOTOS) | chess-news.ru". chess-news.ru. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
^"Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov ikinci dəfə evləndi - Toydan eksklüziv FOTO". Sfera.az. Archived from the original on 2018-12-07. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
^"World Junior Championship: Mamedyarov Earns the Title". JeremySilman.com. 2003-07-03. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^Borg, Geoffrey (2005-11-18). "Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leads with 2953 performance". ChessBase. Archived from the original on 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
^"FIDE Grand Prix Series: Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar". FIDE. Archived from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
^"Aeroflot Open 2006 A1". FIDE. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^"Chess Classic: Kasimdzhanov wins the Ordix Open". Chess News. 2006-08-22. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
^"Essent 2006 Mamedyarov, Judit Polgar are the winners". ChessBase.com. 2006-10-29. Archived from the original on 2006-11-03. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
^"Chess Classic Mainz 2009 (CCM9) 2009-07-27 - 2009-08-02". www.chesstigers.de. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
^"Kramnik wins President's Cup Baku on tiebreak". ChessBase. 2010-02-05. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^"Tal Memorial Aronian and Karjakin win the title". ChessBase.com. 2010-11-14. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^Doggers, Peter (8 June 2013). "Mamedyarov is the new World Rapid Champion". ChessVibes. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
^Мамедъяров выиграл турнир в Женеве (ОБНОВЛЕНО). azerisport.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^Мамедъяров выиграл Мемориал Таля (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
^(hellokostya), Kostya Kavutskiy. "Mamedyarov Repeats; Wins Shamkir 2nd Year In A Row - Chess.com". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
^Staff writer(s) (28 April 2018). "Results: Cross Table". Shamkir Chess. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
^Doggers, Peter (7 June 2018). "Caruana Wins Norway Chess". Chess.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
^"51st Biel Chess Festival 2018 | the Week in Chess". Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
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^"Mamedyarov Wins Sharjah Online Chess Tournament". 13 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
^"The Week in Chess 1338". theweekinchess.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-02. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
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^"Dates for Candidates Matches 2011". FIDE. 2010-11-23. Archived from the original on 2011-04-14. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
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^Wojciech Bartelski. "OlimpBase Men's Chess Olympiads Shakhriyar Mamedyarov". Olimpbase.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
^Вугар Гашимов принес золото сборной Азербайджана Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine(in Russian)
^Сборная Азербайджана стала чемпионом Европы по шахматам Archived 2009-11-02 at the Wayback Machine(in Russian)
^Мамедъяров и Арабидзе выиграли турнир в Шуше
^Mamedyarov Wins Superbet Chess Classic
^Mamedyarov Beats Carlsen, Wins Biel With Round To Spare Archived 2018-07-31 at the Wayback Machine, Chess.com, 8/31/2018
^The road to the Candidates 2018 Archived 2018-01-15 at the Wayback Machine, Chessbase, 9/13/2017
^"Шахрияр Мамедъяров вновь стал победителем турнира памяти Вугара Гашимова". Archived from the original on 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
^Мамедъяров выиграл Мемориал Таля (in Russian). Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
^"Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is the winner of Beijing FIDE Grand Prix". Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
^Мамедъяров выиграл турнир в Женеве (ОБНОВЛЕНО). azerisport.com (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^"Tal Memorial Aronian and Karjakin win the title". ChessBase.com. 2010-11-14. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
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^"Mamedyarov and Kasparov win in Corsica". ChessBase.com. 2008-11-03. Archived from the original on 2011-11-19. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^"Essent Kroongroep 2006". FIDE. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^"Chess Classic Kasimdzhanov wins the Ordix Open". ChessBase.com. 2006-08-22. Archived from the original on 2011-11-18. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^"Aeroflot Open 2006 A1". FIDE. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^"Reykjavik Open 2006". Chess-Results.com. 2006-03-20. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^Crowther, Mark (2006-05-15). "TWIC 601: President's Cup". London Chess Center. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^"Mamedyarov wins Dubai, Carlsen his GM title". ChessBase. 2004-04-29. Archived from the original on 2011-10-11. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^"World Junior Champ. Boys". FIDE. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
^"World Junior Championship: Mamedyarov Earns the Title". JeremySilman.com. 2003-07-03. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Official website
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov rating card at FIDE
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov player profile and games at Chessgames.com