The Uzbek shone at London Classic and a near-3000 tournament performance reaffirmed his place among world’s best

This week’s XTX London Classic at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium took place in an elegant arena with a full view of the football pitch. The English players suffered for most of the event, but hit back in style on Thursday when all four won their eighth-round games.

Final scores were Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 7.5, Alireza Firouzja (France) 5.5, Nikita Vitiugov (England) 5, Luke McShane and Michael Adams (both England) 4.5, Nikolas Theodorou (Greece) and Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) 4, Abhimanyu Mishra (USA) and Gawain Maroroa Jones (England) 3.5, Sam Shankland (USA) 3. The four English victories in Thursday night’s eighth round transformed what had been a difficult event into a demonstration of sustained national strength at the board.

The Uzbek won $120,000 and qualified for the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus, which will decide the official challenger for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world crown

Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.

Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game. He declined a draw and could have gained an advantage by 52 Qg6! when Black’s king was trapped on the back row, and right at the end could have drawn by 57 Kg2! Qh4 58 Rf8+! when White can force perpetual check. Instead, he blundered into a checkmating attack.