Teimour Radjabov
Encyclopedia
- 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. a3 Qb6 10. Ne2 c4 11. g4 h5 12. gxh5 Rxh5 13. Ng3 Rh8 14. f5 exf5 15. Nxf5 Nf6 16. Ng3 Ng4 17. Bf4 Be6 18. c3 Be7 19. Ng5 O-O-O 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Be2 (Diagram)
- 21...Ngxe5!?
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the waters to throw you off track. He is very good at finding disconcerting moves. Here he unbalances Kasparov completely, disturbing his rhythm of play. The move probably caused the Great Player to fall off his chair." Continued Short, "Instead of simply allowing Kasparov to grind him down he unbalanced the game with his knight sacrifice, and six moves later Kasparov had blundered. That was the point of Radjabov's sacrifice – it was not sound but it gave him these practical chances."
- 22. Qe3 Nd7 23. Qxe6 Bh4 24. Qg4 g5 25. Bd2 Rde8 26. O-O-O Na5 27. Rdf1??
Considered to be the decisive mistake.
- 27...Nb3+ 28. Kd1 Bxg3
White cannot recapture the bishop due to the immediate threat of Qg6.
- 29. Rf7 Rd8 30. Bxg5 Qg6 31. Qf5 Qxf5 32. Rxf5 Rdf8 33. Rxf8+ Nxf8 34. Bf3 Bh4 35. Be3 Nd7 36. Bxd5 Re8 37. Bh6 Ndc5 38. Bf7 Re7 39. Bh5 Nd3 0-1.
Radjabov became the first player born since Kasparov first became World Chess Champion in 1985 to defeat him. It is also believed that Radjabov became the youngest player in history to defeat a reigning world #1 in a game at tournament time controls.
Notable tournament victories
- 2008 Elista Grand-Prix, joint 1st
- 2008 Odessa Chess Tournament, 1st
- 2007 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, joint 1st
- 2005 Dos Hermanas Tournament, 1st
- 2000 Budapest Chess Tournament, 1st
- 1998 Kasparov Cup, 1st
Azerbaijani patriotism
To a question on how he felt about playing against the Armenian team, Teimour Radjabov, answered "..enemy is the enemy. We all have feelings of hate towards them." He later issued a clarification, saying statements were sometimes attributed to him "in a supernormal form," and that while "we do not have simple relations with Armenia," he would "never stoop to pathological nationalism." On 14 November 2007, in his speech for the FIDE congress in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is a Kalmyk multi-millionaire businessman and politician. He was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and he has been the President of FIDE , the world's pre-eminent international chess organization, since 1995...
condemned Radjabov's words as "not permissible".
UNICEF
On 11 May 2007 he was appointed as the UNICEFUnited Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
National Goodwill Ambassador for Azerbaijan. He advocates for the cause of the universal salt iodization in the country. UNICEF Representative in Azerbaijan Hanaa Singer stated that they were very pleased to have Teimour in the work to improve the lives of children and young people in Azerbaijan. They were confident that Teimour would become an outspoken and active advocate for the cause, using his great talents to inspire young people.