"Our teams are quite competitive and strong."
Honorary chess coach Anar Allahverdiyev told Idman.biz.
He spoke about the chances of Azerbaijan at the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad tomorrow in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The coach said that the Azerbaijani men's team has certain difficulties: "Teimour Rajabov, who has been one of the leaders of our team for a long time, will act as the captain this time. He no longer participates as a player in the national team. As a result, new young players were added to the team. This process of generational change is inevitable. So I think there may be some problems. Let me also mention that the young players Aydın Suleymanli and Muhammad Muradli are quite experienced chess players. Aydın already has more than 2600 coefficients. Muhammad won 2 major Open tournaments. Of course, these chess players will do their best. They are very ambitious, very aggressive chess players. They always stand out by taking unexpected steps. Our team includes experienced intellectuals such as Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Rauf Mammadov, and Nijat Abbasov. Our team is quite competitive and strong. It will be considered a good result if they take a place in the top 6 at the Chess Olympiad.
Allahverdiyev's expectations from the women's team are greater: "Our women's team has shown very good results in recent years. They perform successfully both individually and as a team. In the last 3 European championships, they were among the prize winners. Winning a gold medal among the U20 players gives hope for a good result. I think our women's team has a chance to compete for medals, and even to compete for the championship."
The Chess Olympiad will continue until September 23. The first round of the competition will be held on September 11.
Emin Aga
Idman.biz
