Tokyo, 10 August, /AJMEDIA/
Azerbaijan has always occupied a prominent place in the chess hierarchy; there are a lot of victories at the European level, at Olympiads, and at other tournaments, Belgian grandmaster and chess coach Vladimir Chuchelov said on the sidelines of the World Chess Cup in Baku, AJMEDIA reports.
“Teymur Rajabov and Shakhriyar Mammadyarov are such well-known athletes that they do not require any extra praise. I believe there is work being done in Azerbaijan with young players, and we’ll keep an eye out for any fresh names. But in chess, everything moves slowly and takes a long time,” he said.
According to Chuchelov, the tournament is as tense as usual.
“Many of the tournament’s favorites have already pulled out, so nothing will be certain until the very end. There are just two iconic games left in the World Cup, after which everything moves quickly and anything may happen. Additionally, practically all of the World Cup competitors are proficient chess players. There are many young players who are not yet well-known, but the most important thing is what form they are in, he continued.
206 chess players in the open section and 103 chess players in the women’s section were on the starting list for the World Chess Cup of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Baku.