Nijat Abasov

Nijat Abasov
Abasov at the 2024 Candidates Tournament
Full nameNijat Azad oğlu Abasov
CountryAzerbaijan
Born (1995-05-14) 14 May 1995 (age 29)
Baku, Azerbaijan
TitleGrandmaster (2011)
FIDE rating2615 (December 2024)
Peak rating2679 (October 2023)
Peak rankingNo. 53 (November 2023)

Nijat Azad oglu Abasov[1] (Azerbaijani: Nicat Azad oğlu Abasov; born 14 May 1995) is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster. In October 2023, he reached his all-time-highest rating of 2679 and was ranked No. 58 in the world.

Early years

Abasov was awarded the title of International Master in 2009. He gained his third and final norm required for the title of Grandmaster in the Azerbaijani Solidarity Day event in late December 2010,[1] in which he placed first.[2] FIDE awarded him the title in February 2011.[3]

Professional career

In November 2015, Abasov won the Cultural Village tournament in Wijk aan Zee to qualify for the 2016 Tata Steel Challengers tournament.[4] In this latter he scored 6½ points out of 13.[5] Abasov played on team Azerbaijan 2 in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku.[6] In late December 2016, he won the Zurich Christmas Open on tiebreak from Viktor Láznička, Dennis Wagner, Christian Bauer and Mateusz Bartel.[7] In 2017, Abasov won both the Azerbaijani Chess Championship and the Baku Open tournament.[8]

In October 2019, Nijat earned 6.5 points (+2=9-0) in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, finishing 15th out of 154 players. In November that year, Abasov climbed to #93 in the world rankings and entered the FIDE Top 100 for the first time in his career.

In the Chess World Cup 2023, 69th seed Abasov upset 5th seed Anish Giri in the third round. He went on to make it to the semi-finals by defeating 37th seed Peter Svidler in the fourth round, 53rd seed Salem Saleh in the fifth round, and 20th seed Vidit Gujrathi in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals of the world cup, he faced Carlsen, and in the third place playoff his opponent was Fabiano Caruana.[9] Semifinalist Magnus Carlsen announced that he would not participate in the Candidates Tournament 2024, and therefore Abasov, as one of the top 3 players at the World Cup (excluding Carlsen), qualified for the Candidates.[10] Abasov was seconded by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov during his run at the 2024 candidates.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Grandmaster title application, FIDE
  2. ^ "Azerbaijani Solidarity Day 2010". Chess-Results.com. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  3. ^ "List of titles approved by the 1st Presidential Board meeting 2011". FIDE. 8 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  4. ^ Schulz, André (30 November 2015). "Shipwrecked in the Benoni". ChessBase. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  5. ^ Crowther, Mark (31 January 2016). "Magnus Carlsen wins his fifth Tata Steel Masters". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  6. ^ "USA and China win gold medals in Baku Chess Olympiad". FIDE. 10 September 2016. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Zürich: Nijat Abasov with best tie-break". Chess News. ChessBase. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  8. ^ "The Week in Chess 1203". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  9. ^ "FIDE World Cup 2023: Preliminary lists of eligible players announced".
  10. ^ Saravanan (VSaravanan), Venkatachalam (17 August 2023). "Abasov Continues Miracle Run On Home Soil To Join Carlsen, Caruana In Semifinals". Chess.com. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Levy eats Dosa for the first time, Nijat's secret second, Vidit enters hotel | Sagar's Day 3 Vlog". YouTube.
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