All posts tagged: Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Gukesh falls to Firouzja, Pranesh holds Andreikin

Gukesh falls to Firouzja, Pranesh holds Andreikin

Published by Webster

World champion Gukesh Dommaraju suffered his first defeat of the Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters 2026 after going down to France’s Alireza Firouzja in a tense Round 2 encounter on Friday. Playing with the white pieces, Firouzja prevailed after 69 moves in a hard-fought endgame to register his second consecutive victory and move clear at the top of the standings with two points from two rounds. The win continued Firouzja’s strong start to the tournament after he had defeated India’s Pranesh M in the opening round. Pranesh earns first half-point Pranesh bounced back from his opening-round defeat by holding Russia’s Dmitry Andreikin to a draw with the black pieces. The game ended after just 18 moves by repetition, giving the young Indian his first half-point of the tournament. Elsewhere, Arjun Erigaisi and top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov shared the points after drawing their contest in 43 moves. Another marathon battle saw Nihal Sarin hold American grandmaster Hans Niemann to a draw after 132 moves. After two rounds, Firouzja leads the standings on a perfect two points, while Gukesh …

Firouzja beats Pranesh to lead after Round 1

Firouzja beats Pranesh to lead after Round 1

Published by Webster

Alireza Firouzja emerged as the sole winner in the opening round of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2026, defeating India’s Pranesh M with the black pieces to take the early lead in the elite chess tournament on Thursday. The French grandmaster outplayed the Challenger section winner from last year in a Sicilian Sveshnikov, gradually building an advantage before converting a complex endgame to secure the tournament’s only decisive result. The victory also pushed Firouzja back into the top 10 of the live world rankings. Gukesh, Arjun and Abdusattorov held to draws The remaining three games all ended in draws, though each featured tense battles. Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju was forced to defend accurately against fellow Indian Nihal Sarin. Nihal created the better chances for much of the encounter, but Gukesh held firm to split the point. Top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov also had to settle for a draw after coming under pressure against Hans Niemann. Playing with the white pieces, the Uzbek grandmaster adopted an experimental setup and spent much of the game defending a …

At Chennai Grand Masters, another Gukesh vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov battle loading | Chess News

At Chennai Grand Masters, another Gukesh vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov battle loading | Chess News

Published by Webster

5 min readJul 15, 2026 10:28 PM IST Nodirbek Abdusattorov recently found himself searching for a hotel in Mahabalipuram. He was readying himself to travel to Chennai for the Chennai Grandmasters tournament that starts tomorrow. It wasn’t as if he did not have a hotel to stay in during the tournament. What Abdusattorov was searching for was a hit from nostalgia. Four years ago, Abdusattorov was at the vanguard of the young Uzbekistan chess team that travelled to India for the Chess Olympiad and upset the equally young and hungry Indian team on the way to winning the title. Abdusattorov’s own personal duel on the top board with India’s Gukesh had decided the India vs Uzbekistan contest which then led to them winning the Olympiad while India had settled for a bronze. “I have good memories with this city,” Abdusattorov told journalists after the draw ceremony for the Chennai Grandmasters on Wednesday evening. “I even checked how far away the hotel is where I stayed four years ago. I had the idea that maybe I …

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Published by Webster

5 min readNew DelhiJun 10, 2026 11:29 PM IST The fourth round of the UzChess Cup 2026 Masters event saw two Indians pitted against each other. Barring their nationality, there was nothing in particular that resembled how their tournaments had gone. On one side was Arjun Erigaisi, jointly leading the event with a couple of draws and a win sandwiched in between. On the other side was Vidit Gujrathi, languishing at the bottom after endured a terrible start to his campaign as he lost his opening two games before gaining his first half point, which came in a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Having played multiple team events like the Olympiad and the Asian Games together in a tightly knit squad, both players are fairly familiar with each other. They know their strengths, weaknesses, tricks and perhaps even each other’s mindset to some extent. So when they faced each other for the umpteenth time in Tashkent on Wednesday, one could expect a battle of attrition with both fighting for the full point. It was indeed a …

Gukesh’s struggles end with consolation win; Aravindh ends joint 2nd, Divya Deshmukh finishes in 3rd place

Gukesh’s struggles end with consolation win; Aravindh ends joint 2nd, Divya Deshmukh finishes in 3rd place

Published by Webster

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Mar 7, 2026 08:16 AM IST World Champion D Gukesh’s wretched fortnight at Czech Republic ended with a consolatory victory over Spanish grandmaster David Anton on Friday night. In nine rounds at the Prague International Chess Festival, the win over Anton was the only time the 19-year-old from India experienced a victory with three of his games ending in defeats and five others being draws. While Gukesh ended joint last in the 10-player standings at Prague, compatriot Aravindh Chitambaram ended joint second. Aravindh was the defending champion coming into the event, but saw his title taken by Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who’s gone on a tear in recent events, winning titles in London and Wijk aan Zee before the Prague event. In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh, who used the event to sharpen her campaign for the upcoming Women’s Candidates later this month, ended third in the standings with a rating gain of 13. In contrast to Gukesh’s campaign, Divya lost just once (to fellow Candidates contender Zhu Jiner) over nine boards while …

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readMar 2, 2026 08:00 AM IST A punch-drunk game in the fifth round of the Prague International Chess Festival between two familiar foes—India’s D Gukesh and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov—ended in defeat for the world champion after yet another uncharacteristic blunder from the Indian. A boy who was an unstoppable attacking force just two years ago—winning the Candidates and the World Championship in the first time of asking, besides inspiring the national Olympiad team to an unprecedented gold medal—now finds himself collecting as many defeats as victories in tournaments in 2026. Sunday’s game saw Gukesh get an edge out of the opening, then Abdusattorov claw his way out of trouble, then Gukesh gaining the upper hand again, then blunder his edge away, then Abdusattorov holding a significant advantage, before the waters became tranquil again. Just when it looked like the game was going to taper off into a draw, a blunder on move 67 from Gukesh suddenly tilted the scale in Abdusattorov’s favour. One move later, with time running out and the game clearly …

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

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4 min readFeb 12, 2026 10:12 PM IST Arjun Erigaisi did not make the cut for the Candidates tournament that will be held in a couple of months to handpick a challenger to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. It was a significant setback for one of the most exciting stars of Indian chess, who will have to wait two more years for his next shot at becoming the classical world champion. But Arjun could end up becoming a world champion by the end of this week. The Freestyle World Champion, that is. Arjun is the only Indian grandmaster to qualify for the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship that will be held in Germany’s Weissenhaus from Friday to Sunday. Standing in Arjun’s path will be players like Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov, Hans Niemann and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After ending 2024 with twin bronze medals at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, Arjun has had a difficult start to 2025. He came close to winning both the Rapid and Blitz …

Uzbekistan’s love for chess rivals India’s own and revenge is on the menu for what happened in Budapest

Uzbekistan’s love for chess rivals India’s own and revenge is on the menu for what happened in Budapest

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When Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov landed in Uzbekistan after their exploits in the freezing climes of Wijk aan Zee, a warm welcome awaited them back home. The two players, who had finished first and second in the year’s first classical tournament, were instantly draped in a traditional, long Uzbek robe called a chopon and cap called a doppi and greeted by a welcoming party with countless hugs, grandiose bouquets and multiple camera crews. That two of their own had emerged on the top of the standings at the topsy-turvy Tata Steel Chess tournament with many of the best players of the current generation was national news. Wearing those elaborately embroidered robes, both Abdusattorov and Sindarov were besieged by camera crews for answers. The scenes were reminiscent of the way Gukesh was greeted by kids from his school at Chennai airport when he had won the Candidates tournament in Toronto in 2024. Just like India, in Uzbekistan chess is a big deal. And chess players are no less than celebrities. Sample this: when Sindarov won …

‘One in hundred times’: Fabiano Caruana reacts to Gukesh’s ‘shocking’ one-move blunder vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Chess News

‘One in hundred times’: Fabiano Caruana reacts to Gukesh’s ‘shocking’ one-move blunder vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readUpdated: Jan 31, 2026 10:40 PM IST Fabiano Caruana, who is one of the glaring omissions from the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, has weighed in on the one-move blunder from world champion Gukesh Dommaraju against Nodirbek Abdusattorov calling it a case of “chess blindness”. Caruana did point out that this kind of a blunder “rarely happens to Gukesh… maybe it happens one in a hundred times”. The 19-year-old Gukesh’s form at the ongoing Tata Steel Chess masters has been under scrutiny after his defeats to Nodirbek, Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum. The game against Abdusattorov in round 6 had ended in a resignation from Gukesh after a single-move blunder that would have cost him a rook and a pawn. Meanwhile, against Bluebaum in round 9, Gukesh found himself in an inferior position out of the opening which he was never able to fight his way out of before resigning in 37 moves. A disappointed Gukesh after blundering an equal position against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. (PHOTO: Lennart Ootes) Talking about the …