Chess Grand Master of Azerbaijan, Vasif Durarbayli, to attend fifth annual San Diego-Azerbaijan Youth Chess Tournament

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A May 18 exhibition match between an international chess grandmaster and a 13-year-old American elementary champion launched the fifth annual San Diego-Azerbaijan Youth Chess Tournament.

The game featured Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli, an Azerbaijani living in St. Louis and 2022 U.S. National Elementary co-champion Isaac Wang of San Diego.

The match was a prelude to an open chess tournament that will feature 40 young San Diego County players. The tourney starts at 10 a.m. May 20 in the Winn Room of the Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave. Durarbayli will present certificates and make closing remarks that afternoon.

Vasif Durarbayli, who started playing chess at the age of 6, became an international master at the age of 15 in 2007, and three years later became a grandmaster. A native of Azerbaijan, which he represented in several Chess Olympiads, he now resides in St. Louis. The grandmaster designation is the highest designation in chess. Chess titles are awarded by the International Chess Federation. There are 1,721 grandmasters worldwide.

This fifth annual San Diego-Azerbaijan Youth Chess Tournament is an event of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Global Neighborhood Project, a grassroots outreach program linking San Diego’s Switzer Highlands with the peoples of Azerbaijan, Botswana, Latvia, Mongolia, Morocco, Scotland and Uzbekistan.

Durarbayli joined KUSI’s Paul Rudy on Good Morning San Diego to preview this weekend’s tournament, and discuss how he became one of the best chess players in the world.