Azerbaijani grandmaster Rauf Mammadov has reacted to the change of his opponent in the "Battle of Champions" tournament to be held in Baku.

Idman.biz reports that the chess player clarified the issue in his statement to "Report".

He stated that he will have an interesting game with Rustam Kasimdzhanov from Uzbekistan, whom he will face instead of Indian world champion Viswanathan Anand, who was determined not to participate in the tournament due to his health: "To be honest, I had started preparing for the fight with Anand. But Rustam is also a great chess player and a world champion. He became the world champion by defeating my favorite grandmaster Michael Adams. I will try to fight. An interesting game awaits me."

Mammadov emphasized that his opponent has recently been considered the best teacher in the world: "Once we played a draw with Rustam in classical chess. We also had meetings in blitz and rapid types. I beat him in Shusha. It is a little difficult to compare Anand with Rustam. I can say that Rustam's openings are very strong. He is considered the best teacher in the world recently. In general, both Kasimdzhanov and Anand have worked with Fabiano Caruana. They are very strong. But after Magnus Carlsen. It is possible to fight with everyone. But it is very difficult to play with Magnus. He's just incredible."

It should be noted that the "Battle of Champions" tournament will be held from April 27 to 30 at the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum. In another meeting, the Azerbaijani champion Gunay Mammadzada will clarify relations with the world and European champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria).

Idman.biz