World champion in rapid chess, leading the national team to Olympic gold. At 17! “That was just the beginning,” comments Nodirbek Abdusattorov on his early successes. What the Uzbek achieved as a teenager remains denied to others for the whole of their lives.
The now 19-year-old has also caused a sensation at Chess960. In 2022, he won his preliminary round of the 960 World Championship without losing, beating world-class grandmasters Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi, among others.
It was not only in this competition that he stood out for his fearlessness. He may be facing a world championship candidate or even the world champion, but Abdusattorov drops his guard, looks for a fight and wants to win against anyone. He succeeds more and more often. It has long been no secret that this young man will become a grandmaster of the elite class – indeed, he almost is.
Born on September 18, 2004 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Abdusattorov revealed his talent at an early age. He was U8 world champion, U10 runner-up, grandmaster at 13, and when he became world rapid chess champion at 17, he broke a record held by Magnus Carlsen: the youngest player to hold a world championship title.
Abdusattorov plays with astonishing maturity at the board. He is not a firebrand who burns bridges and throws himself into adventures. There is no trace of youthful impetuosity. Technique and calculation are his great strengths, which he uses to work on his opponents until they collapse. “Very similar to Magnus Carlsen,” says Ivan Sokolov, coach of the Uzbek team.
Abdusattorov is also characterized by his hard work off the board. Chess at the highest level requires immense energy and vigilance, which must never fade. Anyone who is not in top physical condition cannot achieve this. It would come as no surprise if Abdusattorov were also the participant in the WEISSENHAUS Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge who spends more time than anyone else with the fitness equipment in the winter garden.
Abdusattorov is already a national hero in his native Uzbekistan, where even the head of state basks in his successes. After winning the World Rapid Chess Championship, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev gave the Uzbek chess treasure his first apartment. The Chess Olympiad gold was accompanied by a middle-class limousine by presidential decree.
FIDE title: Grandmaster
Achievements
World Champion: Abdusattorov won the 2021 Rapid World Championship at the age of 17, becoming the youngest Rapid World Champion ever.
Olympic Champion: In 2022, Abdusattorov played on the first board for Uzbekistan at the 44th Chess Olympiad, where his team won gold and he won an individual silver medal for his performance on the first board.
Children’s World Champion: In 2012, Abdusattorov won the U8 World Championship in Maribor, Slovenia.
Grandmaster Defeater: In 2014, at the age of nine, he defeated two grandmasters in classical games at the 8th Georgy Agzamov Memorial in his hometown of Tashkent.
