9 responses to “Update on the Gashimov saga”

  1. Thanks! At least the Azeris seem to know what (all) went wrong, while the Russians are still a bit puzzled.
    BTW, the SOCA Azerbaijan team at the forthcoming European Club Cup will have guest stars Shirov, Grischuk, Vachier-Lagrave and Kasimdzhanov, and the team captain will be Vladimir Tukmakov (captain of the winning Ukrainian team at the Olympiad).

  2. But this summary is missing the key point: the Kasparov-Marcote team has nothing to do with Kasparov. It’s the team of an important chess school located in a small village in the northwest of Spain (Mondariz), which was named after him as a tribute. I’m pretty sure Kasparov almost forgot he was there a couple of times, and of course he doesn’t finance or direct the team.

  3. Very nice article, thanks :)

  4. This article has many interesting news, and confirms that mishanp’s blog has reached the “indispensable” level among chess news sites.

    I want to share some thoughts:
    1: It seems to me that the decision to leave out Gashimov was taken by the President of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation Rustamov, who received orders by the Minister of Sport Ragimov.
    This means Gashimov’s exclusion has political bases, and that Zurab Azmai was only an executor in this saga.
    2: It’s interesting to note that only “second tier” players Guseinov and Rauf Mamedov protest and defend Gashimov, while top players Radjabov and Mamedyarov remain silent. IMHO, this implies that they do have a special status, they are aware of that and think there is nothing wrong with it.
    3: Azmai’s fall (if this is really his fall) is rather pathetic, like every fall of a tyrant’s minion. He whines about how Kirsan broke rules to fire him and demands justice, but when he was in power he was a mayor executor and beneficiary of this corrupt system.

  5. Radjabov’s dad. The money of Radjabov’s dad.
    Nothing should be allowed to eclipse Radjabov. Therefore, no Gashimov.

  6. You almost got to the crack of the matter!

    Yes Teimur Radjabov’s family is a very powerful Jewish family that sponsors/controls chess in Azerbaijan. As usual it is not enough to be reach, but they also want to be famous. Little Teimur was “destined” to bring them fame, but unfortunately for poor Gasmihov he is now seen as interfering with these grand plans. See the following article . . .

    http://www.chessdom.com/news-2009/vugar-gashimov-hollywood

    this is when the problems started. There is only one person in the Azerbaijan team that has been suffering and is still suffering of “star illness” and that is Teimur Radjabov. He is desperately trying to “mix” with the reach and famous . . . see following article

    http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6682

    Every time he goes to the French Riviera he desperately tries to get photos for his marketting campaign . . . he just wants to be a Hollywood star and doesn’t give a fig about Azerbaijan.

  7. @chessobserver: I don’t know what your two links add to the story, and it’s at least odd to state in this context that Radjabov’s family is Jewish. If they were Muslims it would also be awkward to mention it, though less “newsworthy” as most Azeris are. If they were Christians or atheists, you probably wouldn’t have mentioned it …. .

    And if the Radjabov family sponsors chess in Azerbaijan in general (rather than just Radjabov’s own career), they seem to care about others – at least to some extent.

  8. I, who had the privilege of playing in the same team as Gashimov, have to say that he is a modest and likeable person… Such incidents are not a matter of reasoning or judgement, of course. Some authorities are inclined to show players who the boss is. “This is their existentialism”, one may say, but what is the “business” part, actually ?

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