11/19/2025 – Nodirbek Yakubboev became the first player to reach the semifinals of the 2025 FIDE World Cup on Tuesday, drawing with Alexander Donchenko to win their match 1½–½. With the remaining three quarterfinal encounters still level after two games, Arjun Erigaisi v. Wei Yi, Jose Martinez v. Javokhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko v. Sam Shankland all head to Wednesday's tiebreaks, where the next Candidates contenders will begin to emerge. | Photo: Michal Walusza

11/17/2025 – Monday's quarterfinal openers at the FIDE World Cup in Goa saw Nodirbek Yakubboev take an early lead, as the Uzbek GM won his game against Alexander Donchenko. The other three encounters were drawn, though Javokhir Sindarov came close to securing a second win for Uzbekistan before Jose Martinez held firm in a difficult endgame. With three matches still level, the race for semifinal places remains wide open. | Photo: Michal Walusza

11/15/2025 – Four players secured their places in the quarterfinals on Saturday at the FIDE World Cup in Goa. Javokhir Sindarov held a draw with black to confirm his lead from the first game, while Arjun Erigaisi, Wei Yi and Nodirbek Yakubboev (pictured) each won their rematches to move on. With half of the round-of-16 matches settled, the remaining four spots will be decided in Sunday's rapid and blitz tiebreaks. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/25/2025 – The Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica-Zdrój, a spa town located in south-western Poland, ended with Nodirbek Yakubboev securing first place after a final-round draw against Igor Kovalenko, who finished with the unusual record of nine draws. Radoslaw Wojtaszek overtook David Navara on the last day to claim second place, while European champion Matthias Bluebaum took third. | Photos: Official website

6/25/2025 – Round six of the UzChess Cup featured two decisive games that reshaped the standings ahead of the final three rounds. Nodirbek Yakubboev (pictured) defeated former sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a 132-move endgame battle, while Richard Rapport beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu with a sharp sacrificial attack. As a result, Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and Parham Maghsoodloo now share the lead on 4/6 points, with Maghsoodloo set to face Abdusattorov in round seven. | Photo: sports.uz

1/31/2025 – A handshake controversy at the Tata Steel Challengers tournament sparked heated debate after GM Nodirbek Yakubboev declined Vaishali Rameshbabu's pre-game gesture, citing religious reasons. The incident drew widespread criticism, with many questioning the inconsistency of his actions. In response, Yakubboev publicly apologised and later met Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh, offering chocolates and flowers. | Photo: ChessBase India

6/15/2024 – Nodirbek Yakubboev was declared winner of the UzChess Cup after scoring a draw from a position of strength against Yu Yangyi in Friday’s final round. Yakubboev collected as many points as his higher-rated compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattorov, but obtained a better tiebreak score. Yu and Alexey Sarana finished a half point behind. The strong round-robin in Tashkent saw Parham Maghsoodloo, Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ending the event in the bottom three places. | Photos: Official website

6/10/2024 – The UzChess Cup has seen plenty of exciting games in the first five rounds of play. Nodirbek Yakubboev obtained upset wins over Vidit Gujrathi and Parham Maghsoodloo to grab the sole lead with 3½/5 points. Standing a half point back are top seed Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Yu Yangyi and Javokhir Sindarov. There are no rest days at the event taking place in Tashkent, which is set to end on Friday. | Photos: Official website

10/20/2023 – Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboev beat compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattorov in blitz tiebreaks to win the Qatar Masters in Doha. Yakubboev entered the tournament as the 19th seed, and obtained a round-9 victory over Karthikeyan Murali to reach the tiebreaks. Abdusattorov, on his part, defeated former sole leader Arjun Erigaisi in the final round of classical chess. Arjun made a very unfortunate blunder to lose the all-important encounter. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10/18/2023 – Four players are sharing the lead with 5/6 points at the Qatar Masters in Doha. Indian GM Narayanan S.L., the sole leader before the rest day, drew Nodirbek Abdusattorov on Tuesday, allowing Arjun Erigaisi (India), Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) and Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzbekistan) to join the lead. Among the eight players standing at a half point distance are rating favourites Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. In round 6, Carlsen beat Aditya Samant with the black pieces. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

8/9/2022 – The record-breaking 2022 Chess Olympiad came to an end in Chennai, India. After a fighting eleventh round, Uzbekistan and Ukraine were crowned champions in the open and women’s sections respectively. Armenia and India 2 got silver and bronze medals in the open, while Georgia and India completed the podium in the women’s tournament. It was a unique competition, which saw how much of a difference an enthusiastic, diligent organization can actually make! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/27/2019 – The former Georgia no.1 Baadur Jobava won the 26th edition of Abu Dhabi Chess Festival by scoring 8.0/9. Jobava finished sole first, a full point ahead of the runner-up young Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev at 7.0/9. Eight player tied for the third place at 6½/9, current World Junior Champion Parham Maghsoodloo secured the second runner-up position due to a better tie-break score. | Photo: Rupali Mullick

8/8/2019 – Baadur Jobava at one point in his chess career was well above 2700 on the Elo scale and otherwise has managed to keep his rating close to 2700. However, recently his bad form has taken him into the 2500 Elo mark. But that's not his true level! The Georgian GM is showing this at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2019 as he beats one GM after another and is now in sole lead with 6.0/6. Parham Maghsoodloo won the blitz event, while in the exhibition match between Leko and Morozevich, it was the Hungarian who came out on top. | Photo: Rupali Mullick

4/4/2019 – Wang Hao had been unstoppable in the last couple of tournaments that he played, but at the Sharjah Masters, as the top seed, he had to settle for the second prize. It was Russian Ernesto Inarkiev who took home the winner's cheque of USD $15,000, after a seven way tie at the top. Inarkiev led the tournament right from the start and hence he was the deserving winner. Niklesh Jain sends us an illustrated report from the venue.