For the second time, the Uzbekistan Chess Federation is hosting a major international chess festival, the UzChess Cup. The program includes three invitational tournaments—Masters, Challengers, and Futures—as well as an open event. The format is clearly inspired by the successful model used in Wijk aan Zee, which the Prague Chess Festival also follows.
Chess is experiencing a major boom in many Asian countries, especially along the Silk Road, and the success of these nations is no coincidence. First, China rose to the top with its leading players, followed by Iran and India. Uzbekistan’s young team won gold at the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, and Kazakhstan has been achieving strong international results in women’s chess for several years now.
In India, Viswanathan Anand is the great role model for aspiring players. But Uzbekistan also has a national chess icon in Rustam Kasimdzhanov. He became FIDE World Champion in the 2004 knockout championship. Though he lives in Germany, Kasimdzhanov remains active in his home country and has helped many young talents through training sessions.
This DVD provides everything you need to know to be able to play one of the most classical openings with Black, the Nimzo-Indian, arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4. Nearly every World Championship and top tournament features the Nimzo-Indian.
After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3, the author takes a detailed look at a daring line with 7… cxd4 8. Nd4 Qb6, as well as the quieter plans with 7…cxd4 8. Nd4 Bc5, and the main line with 7… a6 and b5.
More and more top-level international tournaments are now being held in Asian countries—this time again in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. The headline event of the festival is a very strong Masters tournament featuring ten players: four top players from Uzbekistan and six international stars. European representation is notably low. Richard Rapport is the only player officially representing Europe. One might count Ian Nepomniachtchi as European as well—he lives in the European part of Russia—but after sanctions from the European Chess Union in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian Chess Federation switched to the Asian Chess Federation.
The top seed in the Masters is Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, and he started the tournament ith a win over Uzbek player Nodirbek Yakubboev. In a sideline of the Philidor Defense, Yakubboev went on an early queen raid before completing his development—and was punished in textbook fashion.
Javokhir Sindarov also scored a convincing win against Ian Nepomniachtchi. In a Giuoco Piano, the Uzbek grandmaster launched a kingside attack with the black pieces and won a tactically rich game.
The third win of the day in the Masters went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who defeated his compatriot Shamsiddin Vokhidov.
The games between Aravindh and Praggnanandhaa, as well as Parham Maghsoodloo and Richard Rapport, ended in draws.
Table
| 1 | GM | Sindarov, Javokhir | 2710 | 1 | |
| GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2782 | 1 | ||
| 3 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2767 | 1 | |
| 4 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 2749 | 0,5 | |
| GM | Maghsoodloo, Parham | 2691 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Rapport, Richard | 2714 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2767 | 0,5 | ||
| 8 | GM | Yakubboev, Nodirbek | 2659 | 0 | |
| GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2757 | 0 | ||
| GM | Vokhidov, Shamsiddin | 2644 | 0 |
Games Masters
Challengers
In the Challengers, tournament veteran Vasyl Ivanchuk suffered a first-round loss to Vitaly Sivuk. Mukhiddin Madaminov won his game against Nihat Abasov.
Table
| Snr | Name | Country | Elo | Pts | K | rtg+/- | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | GM | Sivuk, Vitaly | SWE | 2522 | 1 | 10 | 6,5 | |
| 4 | GM | Madaminov, Mukhiddin | UZB | 2536 | 1 | 10 | 5,8 | ||
| 3 | 1 | GM | Theodorou, Nikolas | GRE | 2613 | 0,5 | 10 | -0,3 | |
| 2 | IM | Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid | UZB | 2490 | 0,5 | 10 | 1,9 | ||
| 5 | IM | Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim | UZB | 2370 | 0,5 | 10 | 2,2 | ||
| 6 | GM | Vakhidov, Jakhongir | UZB | 2539 | 0,5 | 10 | -2,2 | ||
| 9 | GM | Ma, Qun | CHN | 2630 | 0,5 | 10 | -1,9 | ||
| 10 | GM | Hong, Andrew | USA | 2589 | 0,5 | 10 | 0,3 | ||
| 9 | 7 | GM | Abasov, Nijat | AZE | 2594 | 0 | 10 | -5,8 | |
| 8 | GM | Ivanchuk, Vasyl | UKR | 2634 | 0 | 10 | -6,5 |
Games
Futures
The only win in the Futures was scored by Saparmyrat Atabayev, who defeated Alan Pichot.
Table
| 1 | GM | Atabayev, Saparmyrat | 2517 | 1 | |
| 2 | GM | Alekseev, Evgeny | 2520 | 0,5 | |
| IM | Begmuratov, Khumoyun | 2470 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Sychev, Klementy | 2513 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Ruck, Robert | 2515 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Abdisalimov, Abdimalik | 2490 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Chatalbashev, Boris | 2489 | 0,5 | ||
| GM | Nigmatov, Ortik | 2474 | 0,5 | ||
| IM | Saydaliev, Saidakbar | 2450 | 0,5 | ||
Games
