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There has been no lack of fighting spirit on the first two days of action at the ninth edition of the Gashimov Memorial in Gabala, Azerbaijan. In fact, by round 5, no player remained undefeated in the tournament, as that round saw early leader Nijat Abasov suffering his first defeat of the event — playing white against Arjun Erigaisi.
Day 2 ended with 8 out of 15 games ending decisively, and three players sharing the lead with 7/12 points each (a win is worth 2 points in the rapid). Notably, no player has collected less than 5 points in the first six rounds of the event, as even tail-enders Richard Rapport, Boris Gelfand and Jorden van Foreest have all grabbed a win so far in the 4-day tournament.
Abasov is now sharing the lead with Arjun and underdog Aydin Suleymanli. The latter already took two big scalps in the event, as he obtained victories over Van Foreest and local hero Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in rounds 3 and 6, respectively. In February 2020, right before the start of the pandemic, a 14-year-old Suleymanli had stunned the chess world by winning the strong Aeroflot Open in Moscow.
Three more rounds of rapid will be played on Sunday, which will be followed by a double round-robin blitz section on Monday.
The playing hall
Teimour Radjabov started the day with a victory over Arjun. In the following position, Radjabov, playing black, found a remarkable tactical shot.
White has just played 22.Kh2. Can you find the winning blow?
Teimour Radjabov
The very next round, Radjabov was the one on the losing side of a decisive kingside attack.
How did Van Foreest get his winning attack going?
Jorden van Foreest
