5 min readJul 15, 2026 10:28 PM IST
Nodirbek Abdusattorov recently found himself searching for a hotel in Mahabalipuram. He was readying himself to travel to Chennai for the Chennai Grandmasters tournament that starts tomorrow. It wasn’t as if he did not have a hotel to stay in during the tournament. What Abdusattorov was searching for was a hit from nostalgia.
Four years ago, Abdusattorov was at the vanguard of the young Uzbekistan chess team that travelled to India for the Chess Olympiad and upset the equally young and hungry Indian team on the way to winning the title. Abdusattorov’s own personal duel on the top board with India’s Gukesh had decided the India vs Uzbekistan contest which then led to them winning the Olympiad while India had settled for a bronze.
“I have good memories with this city,” Abdusattorov told journalists after the draw ceremony for the Chennai Grandmasters on Wednesday evening. “I even checked how far away the hotel is where I stayed four years ago. I had the idea that maybe I can go to the hotel to relive some good memories. But it’s like one hour from here. I will probably choose to stay here.”
Starting tomorrow, the Chennai Grandmasters will feature a loaded eight-player field of young stars, with India’s Gukesh, Arjun Erigiasi, Nihal Sarin and Pranesh joining an international star cast featuring Abdusattorov, Hans Niemann, Alireza Firouzja and Dmitry Andreikin. It’s the strongest field assembled for a classical tournament in India. But the biggest clash will still be the Sunday evening showdown in round 4 between Gukesh and Abdusattorov.
Plenty has changed in the sport since that fateful Gukesh versus Abdusattorov encounter in round 10 at the Olympiad four summers ago. Gukesh strode to the world champion’s throne. India reclaimed the Olympiad team gold. Abdusattorov, on the other hand, is yet to compete in the Candidates, which is the base camp where you have to plant your tent on before you can plan an ascent to the world champions throne. What Abdusattorov could not do, another young Uzbek, Javokhir Sindarov, managed, and will thus challenge Gukesh for the crown at the end of this year.
Gukesh versus Abdusattorov still remains a premier battle of minds in the sport.
Just look at their run-in over the board at the start of the year at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. In that game, just like he had at the 2022 Olympiad, Gukesh had committed an unseemly blunder that had led to a painful resignation from the Indian. That loss had hurt Gukesh so much that he had spent five minutes on the board trying to come to terms with it even as Abdusattorov tried across the board to engage him in small talk. Gukesh had then walked into the press room and spent over 10 minutes staring in silence into a coat rack.
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“The best part about the blunder is that I cannot even explain how it happened,” Gukesh had later said in a conversation with the tournament’s YouTube channel. “In a way, those kinds of blunders are perhaps easier to handle than the ones you can actually explain. This just happens—I mean, s**t happens.”
That blunder had led Gukesh to lose his next game against Anish Giri as well before he stabilised.
On Wednesday, when asked about his upcoming battle with Gukesh at Chennai Grand Masters, Abdusattorov evaded speaking about the match-up.
Instead, the Uzbek offered: “This tournament is very short. In some rounds, anything can happen, because it’s a very young field. Everyone is willing to fight and when you have players willing to fight, you will get not just a fight but also many unexpected results. If you have a good start, you’ll have a bigger chance to win this tournament.”
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There has been a pattern that has emerged in the sport since that 2022 Olympiad: Uzbek players doing well in India, and Indians repaying the favour. For example, Sindarov’s route to securing a World Championship battle had passed through Goa, where he had won the FIDE World Cup in 2025. Praggnanandhaa, in 2025, had snatched the UzChess Cup in Tashkent from under the noses of Sindarov and Abdusattorov. A year before that, Nihal Sarin won the President Cup in Tashkent.
“This happens because of some pressure that local players have when they play on their home soil. And similarly, when you play on your opponent’s soil, you have extra motivation to prove yourself and score better,” reasoned Abdusattorov.
It’s a pattern that the Indian quartet will be hoping to defy starting Thursday.
Round 1 pairings
Gukesh vs Nihal Sarin
Arjun Erigiasi vs Dmitry Andreikin
Pranesh vs Alireza Firouzja
Nodirbek vs Hans Niemann
