Azerbaijan Championship: Aydin Suleymanli wins maiden title
Aydin Suleymanli (pictured above with his father) emerged as the winner of the Azerbaijan Championship 2024. The 19-year-old native of Baku prevailed over Mahammad Muradli in the final match to capture his maiden national title. The Azerbaijan Championship 2024, with a total prize fund of USD 18,000, took place from April 11-26, 2024. The tournament featured eight grandmasters and five international masters, with some notable absences from top Azerbaijani players like Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Mamedov, and the defending champion Vasif Durarbayli. Like a year before, the competition consisted of two stages. The first stage was a 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control. The top four finishers – Mahammad Muradli (7/9), Aydin Suleymanli (6.5/9), Khazar Babazada (5.5/9) and Vugar Rasulov (5.5/9) advanced to the playoffs (two-game matches) to determine the champion. The top seed Muradli and Suleymanli confirmed their statues as the tournament favorites and met in the final. The first game was drawn, whereas in the second one, Aydin Suleymanli scored the decisive victory with a spectacular queen sacrifice. 29. Qxg6! Nd7 (29…hxg6 30. Rh7+) 30. Qh6 Nxf6 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 32. Rxf6 d5 33. cxd5 exd5 and Aydin won on move 41, clinching the title. In the match for bronze, Vugar Rasulov convincingly outplayed Khazar Babazada to complete the podium. During a short closing ceremony, Mahir Mammadov, President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation and Vice President of FIDE, and Faig Hasanov, First Vice President of ASF, presented awards to the winners. Photos: Azerbaijan Chess Federation Facebook
FIDE World Championship Match 2024 – Call for bids
The FIDE Worlds Chess Championship Match is a pinnacle of the FIDE World Championship Cycle. The 2024 edition will decide who will reign the chess world for the next two years — the reigning world champion, Ding Liren (China), or the youngest challenger in chess history, Gukesh D (India). The World Championship Match 2024 is provisionally scheduled between November 20 and December 15, 2024. FIDE is opening a bidding procedure to host the event. 1.2 The basic provisions are the following: a) Total duration of the event – up to 25 days b) The Regulations shall be approved by July 1, 2024. 2) Minimum total budget of the event – 8,500, 000 (eight million five hundred thousand) USD d) Minimum prize fund – 2,500,000 (two million five hundred thousand) USD. (The prize fund was increased from 2,000,000 USD in 2023). e) FIDE fee – 1, 100 000 (one million one hundred thousand) USD f) Payment for commercial, sponsorship and broadcasting rights will be specified according to bidders’ proposals. g) The Organiser shall respect the rights of the FIDE sponsors and partners, including for the video broadcast. 1.3 The Applicant shall fill in the Bidding Form. The Applicant must indicate the exact breakdown of the budget by item, including proposals for payments to FIDE for the commercial and sponsorship rights, payment for the broadcasting rights and the distribution of sponsorship and broadcasting rights between FIDE and the Organisers. A signed copy shall be submitted as an e-mail message to the FIDE Secretariat to office@fide.com no later than May 31, 2024, by 23:59 Lausanne time. The bid should accompanied by the relevant supporting documents.FIDE has the right to extend this deadline if considered necessary. All the documents shall be submitted in English. 1.4 FIDE reserves the right to enter into additional negotiations with any of the Applicants in order to improve or modify the bid. 1.5 The final decision of FIDE will be based on the totality of all the proposed conditions and interests of chess development.