Chess World Cup: Two Uzbeks steal a march over Indians

PANAJI: Uzbekistan has stolen a march over the hosts India of the ongoing World Cup in Goa with two semifinalists — Nodirbek Yakubboev and Javokhir Sindarov — in the last four. India has none despite top-3 seeds being Gukesh, Arjun and Pragg. Sindarov and Yakubboev are 16th and 24th seeds, respectively. Both Yakubboev and Sindarov were a part of the 14th seeds Uzbek team that had won the Olympiad gold at Mamallapuram in 2022 and the bronze two years later in Budapest. They quietly do their jobs as the spotlight follows Indian stars.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!With Yakubboev (Elo 2689) and Sindarov (Elo 2721) set to clash against each other in the semifinals starting on Friday, one Uzbek is assured of a place in the final. Sindarov, at 19 younger of the two Uzbeks but more experienced, told TOI: “It’s better this way because the country is assured of at least a silver medal.”It won't be the first time that Uzbekistan will get a World Cup finalist. Their current team coach Rustam Kasimdzhaov, who later became V Anand's second, had that honour in the 2002 World Cup in Hyderabad.Nodirbek Abusattorov had ended Gukesh’s stunning winning streak in the 2022 and dented their gold medal bid. Vladmir Kramnik was the captain of that team. “He (Kramnik) taught us life lessons and made us mentally tough. I had slipped to Elo 2660 in rating but regained 40 points to reach 2700 again after our stint with Kramnik.” Sindarov said. Yakubboev, 23, and Sindarov also tried to make the Candidates cut via FIDE Grand Prix and though they lost only one game each in that campaign, lack of enough wins kept them far away from the top-2 spots.