Hayk Martirosyan, a member of Armenia’s men’s chess team, eliminated Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Azerbaijan’s strongest chess player, from the World Cup.
According to Armenpress, in the third round of the Chess World Cup underway in Sochi, Martirosyan and Mammadyarov competed in a tiebreak, where in the first rapid chess game, Hayk Martirosyan, playing with the black pieces, defeated the Azerbaijani. The second rapid chess game, in which Martirosyan played with the white pieces, ended in a draw. With the combined score of the two games, Shahriyar Mammadyarov was eliminated from further competition.
Grandmaster Hayk Martirosyan’s next opponent in the fourth round of the World Cup is Croatian Ante Brkić.
Eliminated from the competition are Gabriel Sargsyan, Shant Sargsyan, Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Elina Danielian. It had earlier been announced that Grandmaster Levon Aronian is not participating in the World Cup at all due to health issues. Aronian is the reigning World Cup holder.
The Chess World Cup is being held this year in the Russian city of Sochi. The men’s tournament has 206 participants, and the women’s tournament 103. It will conclude on August 6.
