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Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian defeated France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to reach the World Chess Cup final in Tbilisi, Georgia on Thursday, September 21.
In another game, China’s Ding Liren defeated Wesley So of the United States to also reach the final round, which is slated for Saturday.
After beating their rivals at the pen-ultimate match, both Aronian and Ding secured their spots at the Candidates’ Tournament.
The Prime Minister Haider Abadi has arrived in the city where 900,000 have been displaced to praise the “heroic fighters and the Iraqi people to achieve the great victory”
Iraq has declared victory over ISIS in the city of Mosul after bloody eight-month battle to recapture it from terrorists.
The Prime Minister, Haider Abadi, arrived in the city one day after Iraqi state television said victory was “within hours”.
His office wrote on Twitter: “Prime Minister Dr. Haider Abadi arrives in the liberated city of Mosul and blesses the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people to achieve the great victory.”
The city was overrun in 2014 when ISIS declared its caliphate and a mission to recapture the city – backed by the US – began in October last year.
Iraqi special forces are closing in on the last remnants of ISIS in Mosul, fighting savage encounters in an area only the size of two football pitches.
Senior army commanders do not expect any of the fanatics will surrender in their last-stand battle around the al-Nouri Mosque – now dubbed “ISIS’s ground zero”.
The ISIS fighters are now surrounded by tough soldiers from the Iraqi army’s elite Golden Division.
Estimates vary on how many fanatics are still alive in a shrinking, constantly shifting battle zone.
Iraqi generals believe there are more than 1,000 left but many are mortally wounded and dying as their lunatic fellow terrorists battle to hang on to the bitter end.
Other observers suspect there is just a handful of fighters left, maybe no more than 100.
Months of urban warfare have displaced 900,000 people, about half the city’s pre-war population and killed thousands, according to aid organisations.
Without Mosul, ISIS is confined to rural areas of Iraq’s desert.
Some Azerbaijanis demand lynching for the local wrestler who lost to an Armenian, Azerbaijani website Haqqin.az reports commenting on the defeat of the Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestlerRasulChunayev (66 kg) by the Armenian MihranHarutyunyanin the semi-finals of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Chunayev’s defeat by Harutyunyan became the main topic of discussion in Azerbaijan yesterday. According to the website, Azerbaijani social network users even suggested collecting signatures for a petition to deprive the wrestler of Azerbaijani citizenship. “There were also calls to lynch the sportsman right upon his arrival at the airport,” Haqqin.az writes.
According to the article, the call to separate sport from politics during bouts with Armenian sportsmen is “a bit doubtful.” Moreover, it is highlighted that in this case, the “wrestling mat turns into a political one,” and a considerable part of the Azerbaijani society “makes a sportsman a hero just for a triumph over an Armenian,” and “executes” him in case of defeat. Therefore, according to Haqqin.az, despite his numerous triumphs in the past, RasulChunayev faced a “riches-to-rags” situation.
Meanwhile, the website writes that Chunayev commented on his performance to the press-service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports and attempted to justify himself saying that he had a “difficult fate.” He particularly stated that he understands people who criticize him. “After all, I was defeated by an Armenian,” the sportsman said. At the same time, according to SamaiMammadova – the head of the press-service of the Ministry of Youth and Sports — “there were tears in Rasul’s eyes when he spoke.”
Meanwhile, according to Azerbaijani website Oxu.az, Qafqazinfo reports that MihranHarutyunyan, the wrestler of the Armenian national team, who triumphed over Chunayev, hugged and congratulated him on his bronze medalduring the awards ceremony yesterday.
MihranHarutyunyan, member of the Armenian national team, won a silver medal during the 2015 Baku European Games. It was reported then that the Azerbaijani audience gave a hostile welcome to the Armenian delegation when it entered the Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony of the Games. Several spectators were chanting “Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan!” and waving the national flag during the Armenian delegation’s entry, which marched with its flag, while other Azerbaijanis were whistling at it. At that time, the silver medal winner Harutyunyan also stated that the audience had shouted and whistled during his fight in Baku putting psychological pressure on him.