Vugar Gashimov, a grandmaster of chess, dies at 27 - NYT

Vugar Gashimov, a chess grandmaster from Azerbaijan, who was one of the world’s top players for a decade and who helped lead his team to the gold medal in the European Team Chess Championship in 2009, died on Friday in Germany, where he had reportedly been receiving treatment for a brain tumor. He was 27.

His death was reported on the website of the World Chess Federation.

Mr. Gashimov was born on July 24, 1986, in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and learned to play chess when he was 6 from his father, an army colonel.

Azerbaijan has a rich chess pedigree. Both Garry Kasparov, the former world champion who is considered among the greatest players of all time, and Teimour Radjabov, who is currently ranked No. 34 in the world, were born and raised in Baku. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who is the reigning world champion in rapid chess and is ranked No. 12, is also from Azerbaijan.

Mr. Gashimov quickly showed promise. He won the silver medal in the under-10-years-old division at the World Youth Championships in Minorca, Spain, in 1996, became an international master in 1999 and earned the top title of grandmaster in 2002.

Together with Mr. Radjabov, 26, and Mr. Mamedyarov, 28, Mr. Gashimov formed the nucleus of a formidable team, and Azerbaijan became a perennial challenger for the gold medal at international team championships, including the biennial Chess Olympiads in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Mr. Gashimov also had some individual successes, winning the Cappelle la Grande tournament in France in 2008, tying for first in the first Grand Prix tournament in Azerbaijan, in 2008, and winning the Reggio Emilia tournament in Italy in 2010-11. His world ranking peaked at No. 6 in November 2009, and he was ranked No. 10 as recently as January 2012, before health problems caused him to stop playing.

Survivors include a brother, Sarkhan.

As a player, Mr. Gashimov was often aggressive and a risk taker, sometimes choosing openings, like the Benoni Defense, that were considered inferior by his peers.

News of his death brought a flood of condolences and comments on Twitter. Hikaru Nakamura, an American who is currently No. 3 in the world and is competing in the Tata Steel tournament in the Netherlands — the same tournament that was Mr. Gashimov’s last, in 2012 — wrote: “A very creative and exciting player whose games (especially in the Benoni) will not be forgotten.”

(NYT)

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