Teimour Radjabov

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Teimour Radjabov
Full name	Teymur Rəcəbov
Country	Azerbaijan
Born	12 March 1987 (1987-03-12) (age 22) Baku, Azerbaijan
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2748 (No. 11 on the November 2009 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating	2761 (January 2009)

Teimour Radjabov, also spelled Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijani: Teymur Rəcəbov; born 12 March 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan is a leading Azerbaijani chess player. On the April 2009 FIDE list, Radjabov has an Elo rating of 2748, ranking 11th in the world and second 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.^[1] Radjabov's playing style has been described as attacking and tactically influenced.^[2][3]

Career

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.^[4]

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]}

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

On 22 February 2006, Teimour defeated FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov (rated 2801) with the black pieces^[5] and subsequently won the second prize at the Super GM Tournament held in Morelia, Mexico and Linares, Spain.^[6]

Radjabov represented his native Azerbaijan at the 37th Chess Olympiad in May and June 2006, playing board one for the Azeri team.^[7]

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.^[8]

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 [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.^[9]

In January 2007, Radjabov finished in joint first place at the Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian.^[10]

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.^[11]

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."^[12] 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".^[13].

In October 2009, he led the Azerbaijani team to victory at the European Team Chess Championship in Novi Sad.^[14][15]

Comparison to 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.^[16] Radjabov's lifetime score against Kasparov at standard time controls is one win, three draws and no losses.^[17] (Kasparov's only win was in rapid chess.^[18])

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.^[19]

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."^[20]

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]}

Notable tournament victories

• Moscow Kasparov Cup 1998 7.5/9 1st
• Budapest 2000 8 9/11 1
• Dos Hermanas 2005 5.5/9 1
• Wijk aan Zee 2007 19 8,5/11 1-3
• Odessa 2008 1st
• Elista Grand Prix 2008 7.5/12 Joint 1st

UNICEF

On 11 May 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.

References

External links

• FIDE rating card for Teimour Radjabov
• Teimour Radjabov player profile at ChessGames.com
• Teimour Radjabov at 365Chess.com
• Kasparov vs Radjabov, 0-1 (requires Java plugin)
• Radjabov champion with Ural Sverdlovskaya - interview