The most productive result of Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s career may have been the one he never achieved.
For much of 2025, the Uzbek grandmaster’s chess was directed towards a single objective: qualifying for the Candidates Tournament. The pursuit followed him from the Grand Swiss to the World Cup in Goa, turning every game into part of a larger calculation. When the final route closed, so did the pressure that had accompanied it.
“Last year was tough for me. I really wanted to qualify for the Candidates, and I felt pressured by that. I was always thinking about it,” Abdusattorov told Sportstar on the eve of the Chennai Grand Masters.
“After failing in the World Cup, I lost all my chances to qualify. After that, I stopped caring about results. I just started to enjoy the process and enjoy the game. My results drastically improved.”
The apparent contradiction has produced the most convincing spell of his career. Abdusattorov won the London Chess Classic in December, finally conquered the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee and then finished unbeaten while taking the Prague Masters. Three successive titles brought the consistency he had long sought, only after he loosened his grip on the outcome.
There was also a quieter structural change. Abdusattorov changed coaches last September and now works with two, whose identities he will not disclose because of agreements with them. The new set-up, he believes, has made him more stable, particularly when a position begins to turn against him.
“Even when I’m in trouble, when I have worse positions during the game, I become more stable and more resilient,” he said. “I became psychologically more stable and more experienced.”
That resilience will be tested in Chennai, where an eight-player, seven-round competition leaves little time to repair early damage. Abdusattorov’s lesson from May’s TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmo was not to become safer, but braver. He finished with one win and six draws, while Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi took more chances, scored three wins apiece and reached the title play-off.
“They played risky openings. At moments, they gambled a little bit,” Abdusattorov said. “If your gamble works, you get rewarded. You should take more risks when there are fewer rounds. It is also important not to lose because it drastically drops your chances.”
It is the sporting tension at the heart of a short chess tournament: ambition must be accelerated, but one wrong move can leave no road back. For Abdusattorov, the answer is controlled risk, built on the calm he found when the Candidates race was already over.
Chennai also carries a different memory. In 2022, a teenage Abdusattorov led Uzbekistan on the top board as its young team won Olympiad gold. Four years later, that core will attempt to regain the title at home in Samarkand, where national expectation will be considerably louder.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who led Uzbekistan to Olympiad gold in Chennai in 2022, returns to the city before taking the same core into a pressure-filled title bid on home soil in Samarkand. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B
Abdusattorov said the squad had already held several training camps in Uzbekistan. It consists of him, Candidates winner Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Shamsiddin Vokhidov, with Mukhiddin Madaminov as reserve.
“Our nation, our people will cheer for us. We understand that there will be a lot of pressure, and the expectations are very high,” he said. “But I think we are ready for this challenge. We have gained a lot of experience by playing under tension.”
The Uzbek rise has also created an unusual overlap between friendship and the sport’s greatest individual prize. Abdusattorov grew up playing Sindarov, joined his training camp before the Candidates and intends to help him prepare for the World Championship match against Gukesh.
He considers Sindarov versatile, energetic and sharp, with improved openings and better time management. “I think he has a better understanding of the game than Gukesh,” Abdusattorov said. “But Gukesh has experience playing in a World Championship, so he has a slight advantage.”
On the other factors, he regards Sindarov as the slight favourite. “It is going to be very difficult for both,” he said. “We will see a lot of drama, maybe, and a lot of tension.”
Abdusattorov’s own ambition has not softened. His stated goal remains to become world champion, and qualifying for the next Candidates is part of that route. What has changed is the order in which he approaches it.
“The secret of being at the very top is being consistent,” he said, citing Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. “For the next cycle, I’m looking forward to qualifying for the Candidates. But first of all, I want to enjoy the game and really get joy from it.”
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Published on Jul 16, 2026