"It would be a great miracle for inexperienced chess players to advance to the end of the national championship".
These words were said by Lutfiyar Rustamov, Chairman of the Judges Commission of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation (ACF), while talking about the national championship.
According to him, young chess players of Azerbaijan have enough potential.
"We have young chess players who are participating in the championship for the first time. But the main advantage will be with our professional chess players who actively participate in international and local tournaments throughout the year. Because, regardless of the system in which the competition is held, the decisive factor is to defeat the opponent in personal meetings," he said in an interview with AZERTAC.
The international-level judge noted that chess players who start the tournament from the first qualifying stage have a chance to advance to certain stages:
"It is possible for our chess players who pass this stage to skip one or two rounds. However, with the current composition, it will be very difficult to advance to the end of the competition and ultimately win by facing stronger and more experienced opponents. This can almost be considered a great miracle".
It should be noted that 46 chess players participate in the Azerbaijan Championship. 30 male and 16 female participants will compete. The total prize fund of the competition is 92 thousand manats. 62 thousand manats of the amount belong to the men's championship, and 30 thousand manats belong to the women's championship.
The tournament will end on February 22.