General Director of FIDE Emil Sutovski wrote on his Facebook page about our team's participation in the Chess Olympiad.
Idman.biz presents the impressions of the former Bakurian about Azerbaijan national team, the change of generations and the state of Azerbaijani chess:
Many messages are coming from my compatriots from Baku complaining about the poor results of their national teams.
In the relatively recent past, I will share my opinion as a person who not only grew up in Baku, but also trained almost all the leading chess players of Azerbaijan. I think many will be interested. Because we are talking about generational change.
Azerbaijan is a chess country. And everyone is well aware that the eighth place can be different. You can play the first table in the final round, lose and fall far behind - or you can push your way into the top ten with a finish push without claiming anything.
In this case, it was the second option.
But objectively, it is incredibly difficult for Azerbaijan to claim a medal now.
Rajabov actually stopped playing.
Unfortunately, Mammadyarov has not pleased his fans for a long time. The most talented middle generation players: Mammadov, Abasov, Huseynov, Safarli, Durarbeyli, to put it mildly, exhausted the potential for explosive growth - although it can benefit the team, as Rauf showed. But modern chess is such that it is very difficult to make a new breakthrough after thirty. This requires extreme motivation - unfortunately, it is not enough for most of my compatriots. Or maybe it's not a pity, and everything is fine with them anyway, then we will be happy for them.
In fact, there isn't one reason for a team's results to rise - but there are many reasons for its decline. The same thing once happened to the nation of Israel.
Competitors are increasing. Moreover, India has advanced at a jet speed and others have also strengthened. Turkey has produced two very talented chess players. A new generation of Germans has grown up.
There are also new players getting: The United States has changed beyond recognition in ten years. Serbia, Slovenia, England have recently been strengthened by strong former Russian players. Romania bought Shevchenko. The Spanish rose at the expense of the South Americans.
There is a generational change in Azerbaijan. Why are the new stars not so bright?
I like Suleymanli's style of play - he has a fundamental approach, it is clear that he lives by chess. Everything is just great. But it is impossible to replace a top-5 player (Rajabov's peak time) with a top-100 player. Aydin will continue to grow, of course, but still only the most dedicated fans are waiting for him to reach the world elite. The same can be said about Muradli, but in this case the results and expectations are even lower.
And there's nothing you can do about it. Yes, probably 10-12 years ago, everything should have been invested in the talented children of that time. But it is very difficult - you have a very young national team, at the same time you receive very strong support, - resources, even the most generous, are not unlimited. The support provided by the Federation and personally by Mair Mammadov to the players for two decades has been seen by individuals all over the world.
I initiated the Odlar Yurdu project once. I hope this helped Rauf and Qadir, Eltaj, Nijat and Vasif, Nijat Mammadov and Ulvi Bakarani. All of them - mainly due to their own talent - became strong grandmasters, all of them were called up to the national team at some point.
But even when Vugar Hashimov was still playing, despite the fact that three Azerbaijanis were in the world's top ten, the team did not make it to the top three in the Olympics.
And now... Now you just need to be patient. I am sure that Shahriyar, Rauf and Nijat will remain in the lineup and will be able to benefit the team in the upcoming Olympics. In the meantime, it is necessary to urgently prepare new stars - both those who are already in the national team and talented children who are 10, 12, 15 years old.
Miracles will not happen so soon. And it is very likely that the result will be even worse in the next Olympics.
But as they say, take off your hat when you look at the past, roll up your sleeves when you look at the future!
Since there are questions, now a few words about the women's team.
I think we need to sit down and have an open conversation with both the players and the coaches. The very talented girls who were one step away from gold in the last Olympics have now ended the tournament unsuccessfully. It doesn't look like a coincidence - but it doesn't appear to be a systemic crisis either. I am sure that the women's national team of Azerbaijan is able to return to the favorites and fight for a medal in every tournament.
In general, compared to Israel, things are not going badly in Azerbaijani chess, but to return to the previous heights, it is necessary to work hard.
Idman.biz
