Azerbaijani Chess Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov: The Youngest FIDE Top 100 Player

Born at the port city of Baku in Azerbaijan, Teimour Radjabov is definitely one of the top players of his country today. He is an excellent chess grandmaster who has solidified his spot among the young players of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). With a pretty solid 2746 Elo rating, he has made his way into the ninth best chess player all over the world.

The young Azerbaijani chess prodigy has already accomplished a lot of great things in his very young professional chess career. When he was just 14 years old, he has already achieved the grand International Grandmaster status. This feat was so great that it made him one of the two youngest ever chess grandmasters of all time. His aggressive style of play has helped him gain the respect of his popular opponents.

Radjabov shares a lot in common with the Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov. Besides being born at the same city and being brought up by their Jewish fathers, the two also share excellence and brilliance in the game of chess. All in all, they have faced one another four times already with Radjabov getting the best out of his much experienced opponent. He has established an impressive 1-win, 0-loss, and 3-draw professional chess record against the former world chess champion.

The achievement of the Azerbaijani chess sensation against Kasparov helped him gain a great deal of attention and respect from the entire chess world. Kasparov's only win against the young chess grandmaster came via a single rapid chess game. On the other hand, Radjabov's key win at the Linares international chess event in 2003 was so impressive that chess analysts cannot help themselves but examine the play he used to beat the heavily favored Kasparov. He was only 15 years old at that time.

Radjabov's early accomplishments have made him very popular. As of the present moment, he is the youngest chess player who has made it into the top 100-best chess players list of FIDE. At the tender age of 14, his Elo rating skyrocketed to 2599 which is already good for 93rd best worldwide. This overwhelming feat came in 2002.

After a year of record-breaking performances, the Azerbaijani chess grandmaster solidified his place among the game's top players after scoring impressive victories against a couple of current and former world chess champions. Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand of India, and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine were all defeated by Radjabov in 2003. That feat is undeniably a very hard one to pull off.

Since then, Radjabov has posted numerous notable finishes in the professional chess circuit. In 2004, he attained a semifinals birth at the World Chess Championship of FIDE. Two years after, he snatched a stunning upset against world chess champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. At the 37th Chess Olympiad, Radjabov spearheaded the Azerbaijani contingent against the other international chess groups.