Strong under pressure
On 28 December 2021, then 17-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov stunned the chess world by winning the World Rapid Championship in Warsaw. A field that had Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Jan-Krzysztof Duda as the three rating favourites saw Abdusattorov (59th seed) beating Ian Nepomniachtchi (4th seed) in playoffs to take home the first prize after beating Carlsen himself in the first round of the final day of action.
As the 2022 chess season unfolded, the Uzbek star continued to improve his classical rating, with good (yet not great) performances in events played in Belgrade, Prague and Biel. His one remarkable showing in an individual tournament was seen at the Sharjah Masters in May, where he tied for first place with Saleh Salem after scoring 7 out of 9 points and obtaining a 2834 TPR. Abdusattorov was crowned champion thanks to his better tiebreak score.
In the August ratings list, Abdusattorov had yet to surpass the 2700 rating barrier, a feat he would achieve in style in the next month, as he played top board for the gold medallists of Uzbekistan at the Olympiad in Chennai. Much like in the 2021 World Rapid, the boy from Tashkent showed his best form in a high-profile event, taking on the responsibility of leading his national squad a month before his 18th birthday.
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In Chennai, Abdusattorov gained 21.1 rating points after scoring 8½/11 points and winning individual silver medal thanks to his impressive 2803 TPR. Over the eleven rounds (like Arjun, he was fielded in every single round at the team event), he got to beat Fabiano Caruana and an in-form Gukesh. The win over his Indian colleague was not all that deserved, as Gukesh over-pressed and blundered after missing winning chances earlier in the game.
In an excellent interview conducted by Sagar Shah, Abdusattorov demonstrated his level-headedness when he referred to this incident:
At some point, I felt like I should resign. But this is a team event, and I have to try to keep the game going. [...] Okay, I was very happy, but it is very sad winning these kinds of games. I felt very sad for him, but it happens.
The momentum gathered in the Olympiad prompted a second consecutive great showing at another team event: the Turkish League in Ankara. Mostly against players in the 2400-2650 rating band, Abdusattorov collected 8½/11 points for a 14.4 rating gain.
While not a particularly strong blitz player, Abdusattorov did show his strength in rapid during his year as world champion. The greatest gain rating-wise in this category was seen in the last month of 2022, as he had impressive outings at the Gashimov Memorial in Baku and at the World Rapid in Almaty.
After winning the rapid and blitz event in Azerbaijan with five rounds to spare (he scored 7/9 points in the rapid), an 8½/13 performance in Kazakhstan was not enough for him to defend his World Rapid title but nonetheless gained him over 17 rating points — in Almaty, the youngster managed to beat Nepomniachtchi and Duda in consecutive rounds!
Having just finished high school, the Uzbek has already shown the sort of maturity that might allow him to put up a real fight at the World Championship cycle in the (very) near future.

Full information at ratings.fide.com
Zhu vs. Arjun - Tata Steel Challengers 2022
Annotated by Arjun Erigaisi for ChessBase Magazine
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Bb7 8.Re1 Rc8 9.a4 Ng6 10.Na3 b4 11.Nc4 Na5 12.Nxa5 Qxa5 13.d4 c4 14.Be3 b3 15.Bb1 Be7 16.Nd2 0-0 17.Qe2 17...Qc7 18.Qh5 f6 18...Qc6 19.Nf3 19.f4 f5 19...d6 19.a5 Qc6 20.f4 20...Bd6 20...f5! 21.d5 Qb5 22.Nf3 22.exf5? exf5-+ 22...Bc5 23.Nd4 Bxd4 24.Bxd4 d6! 24...Nxf4 25.Qg5 Ng6 26.exf5 Qxd5 27.h4∞ 25.dxe6 25.exf5 Nxf4-+ 26.Qg4 e5 25...Nxf4 26.Qh4 Nxe6 27.exf5 Nxd4 28.Qxd4 Qc5 21.f5 exf5 22.Qxf5 22...Rfe8 22...Rce8! 23.Qg4 Bb8 24.h4? 24.d5 Qc7∞ 25.Qh3 Nf4 26.Qh4 Ng6 27.Qh3 f5 28.Rf1∞ 24...f5!-+ 25.exf5 Qd6 26.Nf1 Nf4-+ 23.Qg4 Bb8 24.h4 Qc7 25.h5? 25.Nf1! 25...f5 25...Qh2+ 26.Kf1 f5-+ 27.Bg1 27.exf5 Bg3-+ 27.Qh3 Qxh3 28.gxh3 Nf4-+ 27...Qd6! 28.exf5 Rxe1+ 29.Kxe1 Re8+ 30.Kd1 30.Kf1 Qf4+ 31.Qxf4 Nxf4-+ 30...Qg3!-+ 26.Qh3 Nf4 27.Qh4 fxe4 28.Nxe4? 28.Bxe4 Nd3 28...Nxg2! 29.Kxg2 Bxe4+ 30.Bxe4 Rxe4 31.Qxe4 Qh2+ 0–1
In this Videocourse we deal with different aspects of the middlegame which are important to study and improve your general understanding of chess structures.
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