Azerbaijani grandmaster Aydin Suleymanli has entered the top 10 at the European Individual Chess Championship taking place in Katowice, Poland.
As reported by İdman.Biz, after five rounds Suleymanli has scored 4.5 points and is tied for places 7–50, but ranks eighth based on tie-break criteria.
After three consecutive wins at the start, Suleymanli drew his last two games against Ishik Djen (Turkey) and Gergely Kantor (Hungary), and will face Samir Sahidi (Slovakia) in round six.
Meanwhile, Nijat Abasov and Read Samadov have also collected four points each and occupy 21st and 29th places respectively based on tie-breaks. It should be noted that Suleymanli and Abasov are the only Azerbaijani players who remain unbeaten in the tournament so far.
Among other Azerbaijani participants, Magomed Muradli (68th place), Shahin Veliyev (83rd) and Vugar Manafov (97th) have scored 3.5 points each.
After five rounds, the leading group includes players from Spain, Armenia, Italy, Turkey, France and Iceland, all sharing 4.5 points and occupying places 1–6.
The championship consists of 11 rounds, and players finishing in the top 20 will qualify for the 2027 World Cup.
