Idman.biz
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) may remove Teymur Radjabov, one of Azerbaijan's leading grandmasters, from its rating list.
İdman.Biz reports that Radjabov may not be included in the FIDE rating for classical chess in the next list for March.
The issue is that the international federation removes chess players from the rating list who have not played any official FIDE-rated games with classical time control during the year. Radjabov last played official games with classical time control in February of last year. This was reflected in the FIDE rating of March 1, 2025 (six games). At that time, Teymur participated in the Azerbaijani championship, reached the semi-finals and lost to Rauf Mammadov.
As it is known, Teymur Radjabov will not participate in the next Azerbaijani championship, which will start on February 6. If he does not play any rated games by the end of February, he will receive the status of an inactive chess player. Radjabov's classic rating is currently 2692 and this indicator will be frozen. At the same time, Radjabov will continue to be in the rapid and blitz ratings, as he occasionally participates in rapid time control tournaments.
However, in the future, Teymur can return to the rating list if he plays at least one official classical time control game. In this case, his current rating (2692) will be reactivated.
Radjabov's removal from the FIDE rating will negatively affect Azerbaijan's position in the ranking of chess countries among men. It should be reminded that this list is formed based on the average classical rating of ten leading chess players. Thus, Radjabov's removal from the FIDE rating may cause a serious deterioration of Azerbaijan's position in the world ranking table.
It should be noted that in the history of chess there have been cases of strong grandmasters being removed from the rating after taking a break from their careers, and then returning to the game and showing even better results. For example, American chess player Hikaru Nakamura also had such a break in his career. He was removed from the FIDE rating in January 2021. However, after a break of about two years, Nakamura returned to big chess and is currently in second place in the FIDE rating.
In addition, Teymur Radjabov is currently focused on coaching. In particular, he is the captain of the Azerbaijani men's national team, and under his leadership, the team won the silver medal at the European Championship last year.
Teymur Tushiyev
13:00
The reason why Azerbaijani chess player Teymur Radjabov did not participate in the national championship has been determined.
İdman.Biz, referring to "Report", reports that the 38-year-old grandmaster himself did not want to register to participate in the competition.
He took this step because the tournament was organized in the classical form of chess. T.Radjabov, who has not played classical chess recently, usually competes in rapid and blitz competitions.
In addition, Teymur Radjabov intends to continue his activities as the captain of the Azerbaijani national team. The team he captains won a silver medal at the European Championship last year.
It should be noted that Teymur Radjabov participated in the Azerbaijan Championship in early 2025. The chess player, who lost to Rauf Mammadov in the semi-finals, did not participate in the bronze medal match due to health problems.
