Vidit Gujrathi wins title at Vugar Gashimov Memorial Chess tournament | Chess News

Indian grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the title at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial Chess tournament 2023 on Monday after the blitz portion of games edging past a loaded field at Gabala.
He wrested away the top spot on the final day of the competition, ahead of local favorites like Nijat Abasov, Teimour Radjabov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The tournament is organised the Vugar Gashimov Foundation at the Gabala Garden hotel in Azerbaijan.
Vidit had drawn seven of his games while losing one and winning two matches in the rapid time controls to finish second behind Azerbaijan’s Aydin Suleymanli with 11 points in nine rounds. But then, he scored 7/9 in the second round of blitz games to come from behind to claim the title.
Vidit ended the 10-player tournament on top spot with 22 points, while compatriot Arjun Erigaisi was behind just half a point. Erigaisi claimed 21.5 points after 27 rounds of rapid and blitz games. Erigaisi will next be seen in India at a tournament in Chennai.

“Thrilled to make a comeback on the last day and win the Vugar Gashimov Memorial,” Vidit tweeted after the victory.
Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport, who was recently a second to world champion Ding Liren, ended third behind the Indian duo. Former world championship challenger Boris Gelfand was also in the fray.

Champion!🔥😎 Thrilled to make a comeback on the last day and win the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. pic.twitter.com/dAya9yf3Pt
— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) December 11, 2023
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Vidit is currently the World No 15 with a standard rating of 2737.
The Indian Grandmaster has had incredible success in the last couple of months. He won the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament held at the Isle of Man, which is known to be one of the toughest events on the calendar.
The win also secured him a spot at the prestigious, eight-man FIDE Candidates tournament, which is held to find a challenger to the World Champion, in this case, China’s Ding Liren.
After winning the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament, Vidit had told The Indian Express: “Winning the title means a lot more than sealing a Candidates spot. It has been a while since I had won an event of such stature. In fact, not even such a stature! Won any tournament! There were decent performances here and there, but no titles. So this win was reassuring, I got a lot of confidence from it, because I was getting quite discouraged. As a player I was losing a bit of hope in my journey.”
He had also pointed out that the last tournament he had won before Grand Swiss was the Biel Chess Festival, which had come four years ago in 2019.