Teimour Radjabov

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Teimour Radjabov
Country Azerbaijan
TitleGrandmaster
FIDE rating2793
(#4 in the January 2013 FIDE ranking list)
Peak rating2793 (November 2012)

Teimour Radjabov,[1] born 12 March 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is the leading Azerbaijani chess player.

Radjabov earned the title of Grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at that time (to Bu Xiangzhi).[2] Radjabov's playing style has been described as attacking and tactically influenced.[3][4]

Radjabov came second in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship of 2012.

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.[5]

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.

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

abcdefgh
8
c8 black king
d8 black rook
h8 black rook
e7 black bishop
g7 black pawn
a6 black pawn
b6 black queen
c6 black knight
e6 black pawn
b5 black pawn
d5 black pawn
e5 white pawn
c4 black pawn
d4 white pawn
f4 white bishop
g4 black knight
a3 white pawn
c3 white pawn
g3 white knight
b2 white pawn
d2 white queen
e2 white bishop
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
e1 white king
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Position after 21.Be2. Radjabov (Black) surprises Kasparov by sacrificing a knight for the initiative.

Position from Kasparov – Rajabov[change | change source]

In this key position play went:

21... Ngxe5!?
22. Qe3 Nd7
23. Qxe6 Bh4
24. Qg4 g5
25. Bd2 Rde8 and Black eventually won.

If Kasparov had taken the knight play would have gone:

22. Bxe5 Nxe5
23. dxe5 d4!

and Black comes through the centre.

References[change | change source]

  1. Also spelled Teymur Rajabov Azerbaijani: Teymur Rəcəbov
  2. "ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess prodigies and mini-grandmasters". Archived from the original on 2012-05-26. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  3. "Corus Chess 2003 - Biography of Teymour Radjabov". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  4. "Chess software - ChessBase Magazine 115". Archived from the original on 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
  5. "Ratings".