Chess Democracy? Armenian, Azerbaijani GMs Stress No Deal Made Beforehand in Chess ‘Wimbledon’

Armenian GM Levon Aronian and Azerbaijani GM Teymour Radjabov both stressed that there had been no deals of any kind beforehand in the final round of the 74th annual Tata Steel Tournament at the wintry Dutch resort town of Wijk-aan-Zee Sunday, according to the tournament’s official website.

“No, no, I really came to play today,” said the Armenian GM who ended up with the unshared 10,000-euro first prize in one of the most combative chess events in recent years. “I was prepared for a fight but when Teymour allowed the repetition of moves, I was glad to take the draw, of course.” His lack of pugnacity “actually came as a pleasant surprise for me.”

And Radjabov explained: “I was surprised by Aronian’s choice for an opening. I had expected him to go for a win in an effort to reach first place on FIDE’s world rating list, and prepared for a completely different line. I ended up slightly worse with black and a draw was fine with me. I was happy to be the only player to remain unbeaten.”

Playing white against Teymour Radjabov of Azerbaijan – one of his main rivals in the field of fourteen – Aronian came up with an innocuous line of the Gruenfeld, followed theory for ten moves and then initiated the repetition that ended the game two moves later. He wrote down the intended (but not executed)13.Ne5 on his score-sheet, looked up at Radjabov and nodded, after which the two GMs shook hands.

At a press conference later in the day, Aronian said the tournament victory was his “best result so far. Sure, I’ve had some other good tournaments, but winning in Wijk-aan-Zee is very special, because, after all, this tournament is for chess what Wimbledon is for tennis. This year’s edition was very interesting, with several young players who had something to prove. Many games were fighting games, and, of course, there are bound to be mistakes in such games.”

Earlier, Aronian put in an appearance at the commentary pavilion on the town commons, where he told the audience that he was quite happy with his tournament record of seven wins, four draws and two losses. When asked whether he ought not to have tried and gone for a win in his final-round game in an effort to come alongside Magnus Carlsen on top of the world ranking list, Aronian replied: “I want to win tournaments and become World Champion, but a first place on any rating list, FIDE’s or any other, doesn’t interest me at all.”

Photo: Fred Lucas