Vugar Gashimov was an Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. He was born on July 24, 1986, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and died on January 11, 2014, in Heidelberg, Germany. Gashimov was a three-time champion of Azerbaijan and achieved the rank of World No. 6 in November 2009. He was known for his aggressive style and specialized in the Scheveningen variation and Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence. He also won many prestigious tournaments, such as the Cappelle-la-Grande Open and the tournament in Reggio Emilia.
Gashimov represented Azerbaijan in the Chess Olympiads of 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, and won a gold medal in Dresden in 2008. He won team silver at the European Team Chess Championships in 2007 and 2009, and individual bronze in 2007.
Gashimov's career was interrupted by a serious illness which first became apparent in 2000. He had been suffering from epilepsy and a brain tumor before he died in 2014. He was quite modest and well-liked among his peers. A memorial tournament debuted in his honor in April 2014, called the Shamkir Chess Tournament, which gathers many top-ranking chess players.