Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

In 1980, his family moved to the then-flourishing industrial city of Sumqayit, Azerbaijan, where Shakhriyar was born.

His first chess trainer was his father, who is also a former boxer and taught boxing to Shakhriyar for some time.

Mamedyarov has two sisters, Zeinab Mamedyarova and Turkan Mamedyarova, who are Woman Grandmasters.

Shahriyar Hamid oghlu Mammadyarov (Şəhriyar Həmid oğlu Məmmədyarov; born 12 April 1985), known internationally as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, is an Azerbaijani chess grandmaster.

he is Azerbaijan's highest rated chess player.

His personal best rating of 2820 makes him the sixth-highest-rated player in chess history.

He is a two-time World Junior Champion (2003 and 2005) and was World Rapid Champion in 2013.

In 2003, Mamedyarov won the World Junior Chess Championship.

He repeated his victory in 2005, becoming the only two-time champion, while achieving a 2953 performance rating after eight rounds.

In 2005 Mamedyarov competed at the European Club Cup and had the second-highest performance rating (2913), after Vassily Ivanchuk, of all of the participants.

This performance earned him an invitation to the Essent Tournament 2006 in Hoogeveen.

Mamedyarov attained joint first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow in February 2006, with a score of 6½/9.

In May, he won the combined FiNet/Ordix rapid event.

In October 2006, he won the closed Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen with 4½/6, beating Judit Polgár on Sonneborn-Berger tie-breaks.

After winning this and the 2007 edition, Mamedyarov achieved world fame.

At the Chess World Cup 2007 Mamedyarov reached the third round where he was knocked out by Ivan Cheparinov.

In 2008, he won the Corsican Circuit rapid knockout.

In 2009, he won the Mainz Ordix Open with 10/11.

He is also a two-time winner at Tal Memorial (2010 joint and 2014 Blitz) and Shamkir Chess (2016 and 2017), as well as the winner of 2018 Biel Chess Festival where he beat reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Shakhriyar's parents are from the Zangilan District of Azerbaijan.

In 2010, he tied for first place with Vladimir Kramnik and Gata Kamsky at the President's Cup in Baku, followed by joint first in the Tal Memorial.

Mamedyarov has competed in the Candidates Tournament in 2011 (eliminated in quarterfinals), in 2014 (placing fourth) and in 2018 (placing second).

A gold medalist at the 2012 Chess Olympiad on the third board, he is a three-time European Team Champion (2009, 2013, 2017) with Azerbaijan.

Mamedyarov got married in 2012, but later divorced.

In June 2013, Mamedyarov won the World Rapid Chess Championship, scoring 11½/15.

The next month he won the Geneva Masters rapid event.

In November 2014, he won the Tal Memorial for the second time.

In June 2016, Mamedyarov won the 3rd Shamkir Chess Tournament, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial.

He defeated both top seeds Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri in the last two rounds, which put him in a tiebreak situation with Caruana.

He defeated Caruana in the tiebreak, thus giving him tournament victory.

He remarried in July 2017.

In April 2017, Mamedyarov won the Vugar Gashimov Memorial for the second year in a row with a score of 5½/9.

In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of the Gashimov Memorial, finishing fourth with a score of 4½/9 (+1–1=7).

From 28 May to 7 June 2018, he competed in the sixth edition of Norway Chess, placing seventh with 3½/8 (+0–1=7).

From 22 July 2018 to 1 August, he competed in the 51st Biel Chess Festival, winning the event by one-and-a-half points ahead of Magnus Carlsen.

He defeated Carlsen in round 9 with the white pieces of a King's Indian, Fianchetto Variation.

On 14 June 2020, Mamedyarov won Sharjah online Chess tournament with 7.5 points from 10 rounds which is his first online tournament win.

On 26 June 2020, Mamedyarov placed 2nd-6th in the 1st Mukhtar Ismagambetov Memorial along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Dmitriy Bocharov, Kazybek Nogerbek, and Davit Maghalashvili, with a score of 8.5/11.

In June 2021, Mamedyarov won Superbet Chess Classic tournament in which Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So participated.

Through February and March 2022, Mamedyarov played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022.