Nodirbek Abdusattorov added to his growing reputation as one of the world’s top players last weekend when the Uzbek grandmaster, 21, triumphed in the “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, with his compatriot Javokhir Sindarov a close second.
On his previous three attempts Abdusattorov, who has now surged to No 5 in the live ratings, had missed out in the final decisive rounds. This time he led early, had a wobble with three draws and a loss, but was strong in the final two rounds. “It was a long way for me,” he said. “I was very close every time and I failed year after year. I’m extremely happy to finally be able to win this tournament and to win in a very nice style.”
In 2023 he had led with a round to go, but lost in the final round to Jorden van Foreest. He was beaten in a four-way playoff won by Wei Yi in 2024; and was knocked out of contention by Arjun Erigaisi in the penultimate round in 2025.
How much, if anything, he won remains a secret, for Wijk aan Zee prefers to distribute its funds via generous appearance fees rather than cash prizes. Many professional players prefer that.
In Abdusattorov’s penultimate round victory, he systematically demolished Matthias Blübaum’s rickety king defences, while in the final round he reacted solidly when Erigaisi opened with the lively Evans Gambit 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4?!, gradually took the initiative, and won a 55-move ending.
It was the Uzbek’s second major success in a month, following his victory in the London Chess Classic in December. As the current world No 5, Abdusattorov was unlucky not to qualify for the eight-player Candidates to be staged in Cyprus in March, but at 21 and with a two-year qualifying cycle his chance will surely come.
His serious and hard-working approach is reminiscent of the Soviet chess patriarch Mikhail Botvinnik, whose chess autobiography “Achieving the Aim” revealed a systematic approach to winning the world championship. Borvinnik was stimulated by his epic rivalry with his compatriot Vasily Smyslov.
Similarly, Abdusattorov’s improved recent results may have been aided by the advance of Sindarov, who has now reached No 11 in the live ratings and will be a threat in the Candidates to the US favourites Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana.
Final leading scores were Abdusattorov 9, Sindarov 8.5, van Foreest (Netherlands), Hans Niemann (US) and Vincent Keymer (Germany) 7.5, Blübaum (Germany) and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Turkey) 7.
The four Indian players had a rough time, finishing in places 10-13 with the world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju the best on 6.5, or 50%. Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu did worse, and both plummeted down the world rankings.
Abdusattorov will have another test next week when he is among the eight players in the first Fide Freestyle world championship on 13-15 February at Weissenhaus, Germany, where the top seed is Norway’s world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, making his first appearance of the year. Other competitors are the US’s world No 3, Caruana, fellow Americans Levon Aronian and Niemann, Germany’s world No 4, Keymer, Erigaisi and Sindarov. Abdusattorov was not among the original invitees but qualified from an online tournament open to all titled players.
Erdogmus, 14, is the youngest ever 2600-rated player, and is now closing in on the 2700 mark, where he would beat the previous records set by China’s Wei Yi at 15 years nine months and Magnus Carlsen at 16 years four months. He had a blip at Wijk where he lost two games in a row and dropped to a 50% total after 11 rounds, but recovered strongly next day by checkmating his opponent, who was himself poised to deliver mate in the final position. Erdogmus looks the real deal, a potential world No 1 in the 2030s.
The Challengers, whose winner qualifies for the 2027 Masters, ended in victory for 15-year-old Andy Woodward (US) with 10/13, ahead of the former world No 2 Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 9.5 and Aylin Suleymanli (Azerbaijan) 9. The youngest player, Argentina’s Faustino Oro, scored 7.
The Netflix documentary Queen of Chess which is being released on Friday is the real life story of the all-time best woman player, Judit Polgar, and especially of her encounters with the then world No 1 Garry Kasparov. For serious chess fans, this looks from the trailer a more interesting watch than even the widely acclaimed The Queen’s Gambit. It is likely to revisit the controversy of Linares 1994, when a video replay showed that the then world champion Kasparov had taken back a knight move, and it will also show Polgar’s victory agains him in the Rest of the World v Russia match in 2002.
4010: 1 Nxh6! gxh6 2 Rxe6! (2 Qg6+? Kh8 3 Qxh6+ Rh7 and 2 Rg6? Qxf4+ both favour Black) Qxe6 (2…Rxe6? 3 Qg6+ and 4 Qg7 mate ) 3 Rg6 Kh8 4 Rxh6+ Kg7 5 Qg6+ Kf8 6 Rh8+ Qg8 7 Rxg8 mate.
