Azerbaijan's five strongest grandmasters are competing in the World Chess Championship which starts today in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Teymur Rajabov, Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Rauf Mammadov play their opening matches with white, while Vugar Hashimov and Gadir Huseynov will play their first matches with black.
Shahriyar Mammadyarov will play the queen of chess, Alexandra Kostenyuk, the current women's world champion from Russia. Vugar Hashimov will play Egyptian Walaa Sarwat whose compatriot Mohamed Ezat will face Teymur Rajabov. Rauf Mammadov will play China's Jianchao Zhou and Gadir Huseynov Filipino Wesley So.
The tournament is a knock-out event. Players will have to win six matches to get to the final. The World Cup winner will get the right to compete for the world champion title and a prize of $120,000.
Elmir Aliyev
News.Az