For the 5th time since 2014, a tournament is held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (July 24, 1986 - January 11, 2014). Gashimov belonged to the absolute elite in chess. At his best, in November 2009, he was sixth in the world rankings. He battled brain cancer throughout his adulthood, which ultimately forced his retirement from competitive chess in 2012. With his friendly character, Gashimov won many friends during his career.
Commentary by GM Ljubomir Ljubojević and GM Igor Khenkin
The Gashimov Memorial is organized by the Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR together with the Azerbaijani Chess Federation. The venue is the Haidar Aliev Centre in Shamkir.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen leads the field, along with three players from the Berlin Candidates Tournament: Sergey Karjakin, Shakriyar Mamedyarov and Ding Liren. Radoslaw Wojtaszek was a late replacement for Vladimir Kramnik who withdrew.
Magnus Carlsen
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Radoslaw Wojtaszek
Anish Giri
Ding Liren
Sergey Karjakin
Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov
Rauf Mamedov
David Navara
The prize fund is 100.000 Euro, divided as follows:
| 1st Place | 30,000 |
| 2nd Place | 20,000 |
| 3rd Place | 15,000 |
| 4th Place | 10,000 |
| 5th Place | 8,000 |
| 6th Place | 6,000 |
| 7th Place | 4,000 |
| 8th Place | 3,000 |
| 9th Place | 2,500 |
| 10th Place | 1,500 |
| Total | 100,000 |
| Date | Time | |
| 18. April | 18.30 | Opening ceremony |
| 24. April | ||
| 28. April | 14.00 | Round 9 |
| 28 April | Closing ceremony |
All local times (UTC + 4) 15.00 = 13:00 CEST / 7:00 AM EDT
