Secret of Nodirbek Abdusattorov - Youngest World Rapid Chess Champion

a 17-year-old grandmaster from Uzbekistan, Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Magnus Carlsen, reigning five-time world champion, in round 10 and defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tiebreak with a score of 1.5:0.5 to become the youngest World Rapid Chess Champion. Now, let’s analyze what really happened at the tournament and what Nodirbek’s secret was.

Nodirebek’s December

The last month of 2021 was outstanding for GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In December 2021, Abdusattorov won the El Llobregat Open held in Spain with a score of 7.2/9. He followed that up with another open tournament victory in Spain, winning the Sitges Open, held from 13th December to 23rd December, with a score of 8.0/10 and edging out Ivan Cheparinov and Dmitrij Kollars in blitz tiebreaks. Lastly, Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the 2021 FIDE World Rapid Championship held at the Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw between 26th and 28th December and became the youngest Rapid World Champion in history and the youngest World Champion overall in any of the three recognized time control formats.

Before the beginning of the championship Abdusattorov was rated 2593 & a total underdog to win the $60,000 prize money. Be that as it may, players like Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura or Ian Nepomniatchi were accepted to be the top choices to win the competition. Assuming that there was a youth who could’ve been considered as a possibility it was Alireza Firouzja, who stands firm on the second footing in world chess rankings after Carlsen.

Round 13: Tough Luck for the No.1

On the third and the last day of the World Rapid Championship 2021, the reigning champ Magnus Carlsen was at the highest point of the leaderboard with four games left to be played. It was accepted that the defending champ will figure out how to hold his title, however things took a genuine turn after Carlsen confronted a loss against Abdusattorov.

Before the last round we had 4 leaders on 9 points - Abdusattorov, Nepo, Carlsen and Caruana. The game between Caruana and Nepo ended in a draw in 6 moves. They both moved to 9.5 points. Abdusattorov was in big trouble against Duda in the rook endgame but the youngster managed to resourcefully hold the game! The World No.1 then, at that point, confronted his most outstanding adversary Hikaru Nakamura in his last match. Magnus was having a go at everything to push a success yet Nakamura’s guard was strong and the shielding title holder needed to consent to a draw. Hence, all four of them ended the tournament on 9.5/13.

The Tie-Break!

If there is a tie for 1st place, the top two players in the rankings as per Sonnenborn-Berger shall play a play-off match to determine the World Rapid Champion. Two games shall be played with a time control of 3 minutes +2 seconds increment per move, starting from move 01.

So, it was Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov! It was adjusting luck for Nepomniachtchi, who in this same occasion and under similar guidelines in 2017 was avoided from the play-off. Magnus Carlsen the reigning champ wasn’t happy with the rule and was shown help by other chess players also. In any case, FIDE Director Emil Sutovsky in a meeting said that the standard has been set up from 2017.

First the drawing of color took place and Ian Nepomniachtchi got the White pieces in game 1. A lot was at stake for Nepo who had just lost the World Championship 2021. He went up to the resting area to get ready for the tie-breaks while Nodirbek spent time at the player’s area with his mother. At around 9:00 pm game-1 began and after a very hard fought battle it ended in a draw. Very soon game-2 began and players were down to the last few seconds during this match and Abdusattorov won the game with the white pieces!

Nodirbek’s Mindset

In the press conference following the win the 17-year-old was asked if he expected to win the championship to which he replied, “yes! somehow, yeah I expected that it can happen.” Also, he explained the following morning in an interview to Chessbase India that the key to his victory was that he had a strong mindset about winning and that he believes he can read the psychology of his opponent to some extent. However, Nodirbek wouldn’t disclose the identity of his coach but admitted that he has one for the openings only.

The youngest world rapid champion also said that during his round 13 match with GM Duda he couldn’t concentrate due to his urgency to rush to the toilet yet he had drawn with him! He further added that his mother was taking care of all the wishes he received over social media as he remained focused for the upcoming Blitz Tournament at that time. Winning the tournament was a good feeling for Nodirbek Abdusattorov but he didn’t celebrate much!

Conclusion

On December 30, the awarding ceremony of the winners of the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship took place. In it, Abdusattorov climbed to the top of the podium and received a trophy and a medal. Abdusattorov won the title along with a prize of $60,000. The national anthem of Uzbekistan was played in his honor. On January 03, Nodirbek Abdusattorov was awarded the state prize “Mard Uglon”, the key to a two-room flat in Tashkent and a cash prize of 250 million soums.

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov showed extraordinary strength and character and accomplished an incredible accomplishment in the start of his vocation. All the chess aficionados will trust on seeing even more awesome exhibitions from the World Rapid Champion of 2021.

Here is a video of the interview with the world rapid champion